New York’s Best jazz pianist - Jinjoo

 Jazz Pianist/Composer/Arranger Jinjoo is a dynamic performer with a unique voice. Hailing from Seoul, South Korea, Jinjoo currently resides in New York and collaborates with different projects and leads her own group as well. As a leader or a sideman, she has toured/performed internationally, including performances in the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, Spain, Poland, Hungary, and South Korea. In 2017, she was selected as one of the finalists for the Baku Jazz Competition. 

Jazz captured her attention soon after starting University in South Korea. It didn’t take long for her to fall in love with Mary Lou Williams, Wynton Kelly, Teddy Wilson, Bud Powell, Sonny Clark, Art Tatum, Jimmy Rowles, Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, and so on. Since then, she has immersed herself in the music by listening to jazz legends’ album. After her graduation, she decided to focus on jazz more deeply in New York. In 2017, Jinjoo earned Master’s degree in Jazz Performance from Queens College.

Jinjoo stylistically encompasses the range from Jazz Classic and the American songbook to original compositions that are played with swinging intuition. Jinjoo thinks that her music should be able to describe this world, either beautiful or ugly, and the way she feels while observing it. Her original tunes bring stories and emotions of curiosity, joyfulness, tragedy, gratitude, melancholy, and pain. 

Listening to live or new music also challenges the brain — it has to work to understand a new sound — acting as a workout for the brain. Music improves creativity, memory, alertness, and clarity, and live music has been linked to improved cognitive function in patients with dementia. When looking at subjects’ brain activity in MRI scans, researchers found that music activates more areas of the brain than even language; in fact, in early development, babies start processing music before they can process speech. Studies have shown that listening to music releases brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which promotes neurogenesis: the growth of new neurons. Essentially, listening to music, recorded or live, keeps your brain young.

People who regularly experience live music boost their creativity and cognitive abilities; reduce stress hormone levels while increasing the production of endorphins, dopamine, and oxytocin; experience consistent social connection or “collective effervescence; and even live longer (up to nine years longer, in fact).