Earthwise welcomes Carmen Staaf Akira Tana

Born and raised in California, Akira Tana earned degrees from Harvard University and the New Conservatory of Music. Tana has worked with, among others, Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt, Zoot Sims, Hubert Laws, Milt Jackson, Jim Hall, Art Farmer, The Paul Winter Consort, Paquito D'Rivera, James Moody, J.J. Johnson, Lena Horne, The Manhattan Transfer, Ruth Brown, Charles Aznavour, Maurice Hines, and Van Dyke Parks. He has appeared on over 200 recordings.

Pianist/composer Carmen Staaf is a rising force in the NYC and global music scenes. She has performed and recorded with some of the most influential and important musicians of our era. Currently, she is the pianist and Musical Director for NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater. Her past major performances have included the Playboy Jazz Festival in a two-piano setting with the legendary Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and the Kennedy Center alongside Kenny Barron and Fred Hersch. She has been heard at the Village Vanguard, Blue Note, SFJazz and major jazz festivals around the world including the Newport, Monterey, Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals, among many others. carmenstaaf.com.

Separately each performer has appeared multiple times with Earthwise Productions. Akira performed with Otonowa in March of 2020 at the Mitch and in a trio with Erik Lawrence and Peter Bashay in August, 2022 at Lytton Plaza. He is a graduate of Gunn High of Palo Alto (where he was also a league champion quarter back in football).

Staaf meanwhile appeared in shows in Palo Alto with Allison Miller, Todd Sickafoose, Jenny Scheinman plus co-led hits with Ben Goldberg, Dillon Vado and Harmir Atwal. Carmen's new cd "Sounding Line" (2025, Sunnyside) was workshopped during these shows and recorded in Oakland.