Mamiko Watanabe was born in Fukuoka, Japan. She started with the piano at the age of four under instruction at the Yamaha School of Music. By the time she was seven, her instructor asked her to compose a ‘motif,’ eight bars of a composition. Later, she wrote entire compositions. Her inspiration was Tashiko Akiyoshi, the boundary-smashing Japanese-American pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader who wrote powerful, complex compositions that ran the gamut from the mainstream to the avant-garde. In 1999, Mamiko received a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music where she received several awards for Jazz piano and Composition. She was also a semi-finalist at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition both in 2002 and 2003. She has toured Germany, Italy and Japan and has performed with jazz greats such as Joe Lovano, Kevin Mahogany and Bobby McFerrin while in college. "Being Guided by the Light" is the first single and title track of pianist Mamiko Watanabe’s anticipated new album. Mamiko plays the piano with the grace of a master but also the feral intensity of a jungle cat. Mamiko is joined by two revered masters of jazz, Billy Hart on drums and Santi Debriano on bass. “I was so grateful for this recording opportunity with Billy. The way Santi Debriano makes the groove on my compositions is always exactly the way I want. I’ve been learning from Santi the limitless creativity through rhythm, phrasing and communicating as the group.”