Bio (short)

Miles Okazaki is a NYC-based guitarist originally from Port Townsend, a small seaside town in Washington State. His approach to the guitar is described by the New York Times as “utterly contemporary, free from the expectations of what it means to play a guitar in a group setting — not just in jazz, but any kind.” His touring and recording experience over three decades includes work with Kenny Barron, John Zorn, Steve Coleman, Miguel Zenón, Stanley Turrentine, Henry Threadgill, Patricia Brennan, Dan Weiss, Anthony Tidd, Adam Rudolph, Anna Webber, Matt Mitchell, Mary Halvorson, Jonathan Finlayson, Jen Shyu, Jacob Garchik, Jon Irabagon, Jane Monheit, Amir ElSaffar, Darcy James Argue, and many others. He has released 12 albums of original compositions over the last 12 years on the Sunnyside, Pi, and Cygnus labels. In 2018 Okazaki received wide critical acclaim for his six-album recording of the complete compositions of Thelonious Monk for solo guitar, an unprecedented project that Nate Chinen called “the six-string equivalent of a free solo climb up El Capitan.” In 2024 he recorded the entire songbook again from memory in a one night, five-hour concert filmed at The Jazz Gallery in NYC. In addition, Okazaki was voted the #1 rising star guitarist in the Downbeat Magazine critic’s poll, has published a book Fundamentals of Guitar on Mel Bay, teaches at Princeton University, and holds degrees from Harvard University, Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School.