Emi Takada - I'm All Smiles (2014)

First of all, I would like to thank all the musicians, Bob Henschen, Aric Nitzberg and Tim Solook, who helped me to record this debut jazz CD album with their creative input of ideas, elegant playing and warm support. I was born and raised in Japan, but I am now living in Houston, and I firmly believe that all things happen for a reason. I believe everyone is connected to each other in this life. Music binds people together because it is the universal language, cutting through all differences and separations which come from ethnicity, language, belief system and economic status. I feel this bond very strongly because singing is my life, my heart, my passion and my love. Every time I sing, I am telling a story with music, and I sing my true heart out. That's all I can do. My desire is that my feelings touch and connect with people's true hearts when they listen to my singing. I always respect the lyricist and the composer who created such masterpieces, so most of time I try to sing a song as written for the first chorus, because I don't want to break a beautiful melody line or alter the meaning of the lyrics. I simply deliver them with deep feeling and emotion. When I first heard Cole Porter's song, "So in Love", I cried. He is so honest and brave to expose his true heart. He really knows what love is. He is a very special person for me, which is why I chose three of his songs, "So in Love", "It's All Right with Me" and "Night and Day" for this album. "I'm All Smiles" expresses my own happiness and gratitude for my precious family, beautiful friends and my music. Life is never simple, but whatever happens in my life, "I'm All Smiles". I hate goodbyes. When I was a small child, circumstances forced me to be apart from my mother for quite a long period. Although "Never Let Me Go" is a love song, perhaps at an unconscious level it reminds me of my childhood sadness. Now that I am older, and perhaps wiser, every time I must part from my loved ones, I reassure myself, and them, that "We'll Be Together Again," and this makes me smile from my heart. "Come Rain or Come Shine" is a love song stating passionately that whatever happens, I will never stop loving you. I don't care about money, status or power. I know that in life, all that matters is true love. I don't know why the songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim so inspire me. It just seems so natural. Maybe because Bossa Nova influenced Japanese pop music that I listened to when I was a child. Or maybe I was just born for it. "Agua de Beber" makes me happy and relaxed when I sing it. I like songs in a minor key. A minor key gives color to the music, making it mysterious, exotic and sensuous. "You and the Night and the Music" is an exceptional song in a minor key. "Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me" expresses the sentiments of an independent, freethinking woman. I like her feisty attitude and I admire her style! Born in Sapporo, Japan. Emi Takada studied classical piano from a young age. At age 10, she began singing in the HBC Boys and Girls Choral Group and engaging in exchange with children overseas. She was moved by being able to communicate with others through music, which knows no borders. She came to the United States in 1997 and joined the Houston Symphony Chorus as a soprano. Following a return to Japan to learn chanson, she had great success with live performances in Shinjuku, Tokyo at the club Champagne and then came to New York in 2010 to study Jazz under Marion Cowings. She made her New York City debut as a Jazz vocalist in 2011 at 5C Cafe in downtown Manhattan and received great acclaim from various quarters. Currently, Takada lives in Houston and travels to New York and Japan. In Houston, she performs regularly with pianist, Bob Henschen. She continues to pursue songs that connect the power of music with the deep meaning of words, and to touch people's hearts, characterized by her transparent, gentle vocal quality and overflowing emotion. As Cowings describes her, 'Emi Takada was born to sing. I enjoy her honest approach to the craft. Ms. Takada relays great feeling, and that's what singing is all about.'