About

Mai Sugimoto is a saxophonist, composer, educator, and active member of Chicago's jazz and creative music scene. Born/Raised, her debut album (Asian Improv Records, 2018), explores this cultural and musical binary, juxtaposing her Japanese upbringing with the American jazz idiom. Sugimoto is a core member of the quartet Hanami, whose two albums similarly mix Japanese culture into creative music. Sugimoto has performed five times at the Chicago Jazz Festival: in 2015 with Hanami, in 2019, 2022, and 2024 as a leader, and in 2018 and 2022 with renowned bassist Tatsu Aoki, with whom she frequently plays, including appearances in his Fred Anderson Legacy Band. Her first solo album, monologue (Asian Improv Records) was released in March of 2021. Sugimoto’s work also appears on Natural Information Society’s album, Since Time Is Gravity (Eremite, 2023). Of her latest album, Sunlight filtering Through Leaves (Asian Improv Records, 2024), music critic Peter Margasak writes that “[the album] conveys that singular joy of good improvised music, when it’s not about ripping solos but group unity. Naturally, I’m advising you all to pay close attention to Sugimoto from here on out.” 

Nowhere Street: Mai Sugimoto Gets Connected
Peter Margasak, February 19, 2024

"A Woman Will Be Heard: An Interview With Mai Sugimoto"
FOXY DIGITALIS (by Brad Rose, September 22, 2021

Chicago improv jazz saxophonist Mai Sugimoto out with third album ‘Sunlight Filtering Through Leaves’
WBEZ Chicago's Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons (aired February 9, 2024)