REVIEWS
"New York pianist Yoko Yates delivers a pastoral
chamber jazz suite in 10 parts with the same
excellent quintet she unveiled on her 2022 album,
Mystic Life. Yates' writing and arranging integrate
pairs of winds with pulsing rhythm section; soloists Jamie Baum and Sam Sadigursky soar. Many
tracks offer rhythmic intricacy and surprise...
Overall, a strong album, especially when agitation and engagement triumph
over enchantment."
PAUL de BARROS
Downbeat Magazine
January, 2026
“Instrumental music at its most visual, emotional, and transcendent. A perfect listen for fans of contemplative modern jazz. In essence, Eternal Moments is considered a significant and beautiful work that solidifies Yoko Yates’ talent as a composer and bandleader, offering a deeply personal yet universally resonant musical journey."
JazzbluesEU
December 8, 2025
"Pianist and composer Yoko Yates has crafted a beautiful and highly melodic album with Eternal Moments, using a trio of Yoko-san on piano, Jeff Hirshfeld on drums and Aryeh on bass—then adding Jamie Baum on flutes and Sam Sadigurski on clarinet, bass clarinet and alto saxophone. Her use of these instruments to provide coloration makes me think of her compositions as tone poems. Originally from northern Japan, her early influences of classical, rock and other genres clearly influence her compositions. Beautiful!"
- DR. BRAD STONE
host
The Creative Source
radio show on www.soulandjazz.com
December 2025
"Pianist/composer Yoko Yates comes off like a musical story teller on this album of originals interpreted by Jamie Baum/fl-as, Sam Sadigursky/cl-bcl-as, Aryeh Kobrinsky/b and Jeff Hirshfield/dr. She brings in the woodwinds like watercolors on a canvas with fluffy flute work on 'Outer Space-MyriadStars!' and warm woody clarinet for 'The Flower Before Its Last Day.' Her piano is rich and suggestive on 'Winter Calls' with Kobrinsky’s bass guiding through the stars of “Winding River”. The horns give dots and dashes to 'Song Of The Wild' and wistful dreams during 'Collage Of Life.' Musical pictures at an exhibition."
- GEORGE HARRIS
JazzWeekly.com
October 30, 2025
"Yoko Yates’ Eternal Moments builds on the poetic sensibilities of her earlier projects, yet finds her voice growing more assured and expressive in both composition and ensemble interplay. Pianist and composer Yates frames the music with an understated touch, allowing Jamie Baum’s flute and Sam Sadigursky’s reeds to weave gracefully through the melodies. Aryeh Kobrinsky on bass and Jeff Hirshfield on drums lend subtle momentum and grounding to the tunes. Compared with her past work, this album reveals a deeper layering of textures and a more confident use of space, balancing moments of quiet contemplation with passages that open into wide, almost cinematic vistas. The production speaks to Yates’s continuing evolution, offering music that is thoughtful, lyrical, and quietly powerful."
"On her second album, Japanese-born, New York City-based pianist and composer Yoko Yates, ever the genial story-teller, presents ten of her elegant original compositions. Based on feelings and emotions she has experienced while living and working in and around the New York area, they encompass a wide range of phenomena—from outer space and a serpentine river to seasonal changes and even the penultimate day of a flower.
Yates leads her quintet along an avenue whose bedrock is for the most part smooth and rarefied, a low-pressure excursion with enhanced symmetry thanks to the mindfulness of flutist Jamie Baum and woodwind specialist Sam Sadigursky who plays clarinet, bass clarinet and alto sax. Baum and Sadigursky performed the same duties on Yates' debut album, Mystic Nights (Steeplechase Records, 2022), as did bassist Aryeh Kobrinsky and drummer Jeff Hirshfield.
Yates has a keen ear for handsome melodies, which she leaves mainly in the capable hands of Sadigursky—who plays bass clarinet on most numbers—and Baum. Yates solos sparely, preferring to add rhythmic counterpoint in support of the front-liners. That works well, as Sadigursky and Baum are proficient ad libbers with abundant creativity and charm. Sadigursky is especially adept at using the bass clarinet's upper register to press home his improvisational perspective.
As noted, Yates' compositions tend to be light and lyrical, lending themselves well to the quintet's flute and woodwind makeup. Kobrinsky and Hirshfield play their parts well, providing a rhythmic bedrock that is free of bombast or intrusion. Yates is the glue that holds the enterprise together, both compositionally and musically, comping with assurance behind every solo and stepping to the front gracefully whenever needed (as, for example, on 'The Flower Before Its Last Day,' 'Winding River' or 'Winter Calls').
This is lovely music, splendidly performed by Yates and her teammates who are always in lock-step and on the same seductive page. If pleasant and beautiful jazz is your preference, Eternal Moments was conceived and arranged with you in mind."
- JACK BOWERS
AllAboutJazz.com
September 6, 2025
"The arrangements, more than the raw material of the compositions themselves, feel like the true architecture of this project. The piano playing is executed with exquisite poise, yet there is a sense of déjà vu that pervades many of the tracks. In a landscape crowded with new releases, it’s easy to recognize her inspirations. And yet, after reflection, I began to see Yates less as a traditional composer and more as a kind of visual artist, someone who paints, sculpts, or shapes sound into texture. What matters here is not always the narrative core but the final form. From that vantage point, Eternal Moments succeeds brilliantly. Trained in both visual arts and classical music in her youth, Yates approaches jazz with the eye of a painter, the ear of a chamber musician, and the style of a fiercely individualistic voice. 'I love to express my feelings and emotions, and I don’t care much about form or genre,' she says. When the result is as considered and as beautiful as this music, one can hardly object."
- THIERRY De CLEMENSAT
Paris-Move
August 25, 2025
