About

  • Mai Sugimoto is a saxophonist, composer, educator, and active member of Chicago's jazz and creative music scene. Born/Raised, her debut album (Asian Improv Records, 2018), explores her Japanese American cultural and musical binary, juxtaposing, among others, a jazz rendition of a Japanese children's song alongside compositions inspired by the American jazz idiom. Her first solo album, monologue (Asian Improv Records, 2021) was heralded as “one of the year’s most memorable sonic statements with its ferocious physicality and melodic sensibility” (Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis). Sunlight Filtering Through Leaves (Asian Improv Records, 2024) is Sugimoto’s most recent album as a leader. “She breaks down phrases with the muscle and rigor of vintage Sonny Rollins spiked with a more feverish tone that clearly connects her to the ESP soul-streaked blowers like Charles Tyler,” declares Peter Margasak in his review for Nowhere Street. “[The album] conveys that singular joy of good improvised music, when it’s not about ripping solos but group unity. Naturally, I’m advising you all to pay close attention to Sugimoto from here on out.” 

    Mai has performed numerous festivals around the world: Guelph Jazz Festival (Canada), Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (Canada), Tribu Festival Dijon (France), Just Listen Festival (France), Atlantique Jazz Festival (France), Pitchfork Music Festival (Chicago), Hyde Park Jazz Festival (Chicago), CU Jazz Fest (Champaign-Urbana), Bay View Jazz Fest (Milwaukee), and several times at the Chicago Jazz Festival: in 2015 with Hanami, in 2019, 2022, and 2024 as a leader, and in 2018 with renowned bassist Tatsu Aoki, with whom she frequently plays, including appearances in his Fred Anderson Legacy Band and Miyumi Project.

    Her 2025 performance schedule has included concerts with artists like Joshua Abrams, Dan Bitney, Theaster Gates, LeRoy Bach, Marvin Tate, Ken Vandermark, David Lord, Ben Lamar Gay, Fred Jackson Jr., and Patrick Shiroishi. Sugimoto premiered her new work for saxophone, violin, and cello – “Strings of Luck” (2025) – commissioned by Missing Piece.  When not leading her own bands, she can be heard on recordings and concerts with Natural Information Society, Erez Dessel’s Look Both Days, Jeb Bishop Quintet, and the Chicago experimental collective, BYSH, which released its first recording, Please (Unifactor) in June. Sugimoto is also a core member of the longstanding quartet, Hanami. The band’s sophomore album, The Only Way to Float Free (Eyes and Ears, 2016) “evinces an impressive unity and a distinctive sound that make their excursions more vibrant than other bands within the same genre.” (Filipe Freitas, JazzTrail)

  • Nowhere Street: Mai Sugimoto Gets Connected
    Peter Margasak, February 19, 2024

    "A Woman Will Be Heard: An Interview With Mai Sugimoto"
    FOXY DIGITALIS (by Brad Rose, September 22, 2021

  • Chicago improv jazz saxophonist Mai Sugimoto out with third album ‘Sunlight Filtering Through Leaves’
    WBEZ Chicago's Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons (aired February 9, 2024)