Sumi Tonooka

Born on October 3, 1956 in Philadelphia, PA, modern mainstream jazz pianist Sumi Tonooka began her musical studies at age seven at the hometown Settlement Music School with Ester Cinberg and Gary Goldschneider. Growing up in a multi-cultural household, her African-American father and Japanese-American mother exposed her to different strains of culture, but there were plenty of modern jazz LPs around she house. She was introduced to live jazz hearing a transforming performance of Thelonious Monk when she was 13. Duke Ellington was also a big influence, and she became close to l...