Tomoko Iwamoto
Violinist, Composer, Founder and leader of "440" gypsy jazz quartet
Being a "jazzy" violinist with a strong classical background,
Tomoko expands her repertoire in jazz, rock, pop to world music, demonstrating a great sense of improvisation.
Tomoko toured with Hypnotic Clambake led by accordionist
Maury Rosenberg during the time studying Jazz Composition and Arranging at Berklee College of Music as a scholarship student.
She was inspired by Turtle Island String Quartet and composed and arranged many tunes for jazz string quartet and performed with J-Way String Quartet for several years.
Then, she encountered and fell in love with music by Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli. She formed a Gypsy Jazz quartet 440 and has been performing concerts in New England area with original arrangements
and her own compositions.
Besides leading her band, she appeared as a guest soloist with
Mood Swings Orchestra and Women In World Jazz, and collaborated with modern jazz guitarist, Chris Mcdermott.
In recent years, she traveled to Europe and jammed with world renown
gypsy jazz musicians; Tcha Limberger & the members of Les Violins de Bruxelles, and Chris & Julian Brunard.