Tokyo Groove Jyoshi

Tokyo Groove Jyoshi (TGJ) is a female jazz/funk groove band formed in 2018 in Tokyo by their producer Koichi Kaneko (Neko) consisting of top Japanese session musicians. The band’s current line is Emi Kanazashi (keyboards/vocals), MiMi Kawakami (drums /vocals), and Rina Hoshino (bass/vocals).

Emi is an original member of TGJ. She was born in Shizuoka and started playing piano at the age of 3 and electric organ as a young child. She graduated from Senzoku Gakuen College of Music with a major in electric organ. She has featured in numerous albums and tours of other popular artists including Daichi Hamasaki and Soul Band Eldolphin H.K. Emi is constantly exploring new sounds and styles.

Emi studied under Philip Woo, Ken Kawamura, Toshitaka Shibata for keyboards, and Yuko Ootaki for vocals. She respects borderless musicians such as Cory Henry, Bob James, Stevie Wonder, Tower of Power, Sting, and Alicia Keys.

MiMi was born in Ishikawa and was only 7 years old when she picked up her first drumsticks. She has won numerous prestigious awards (First Prize on the Percussion Competition at the Asian Percussion Festival in July 2018) even before graduating from Showa University of Music in March 2019.

MiMi toured with and featured on the album “Blind Love” by Yoko Hamasaki in July 2019. She was the drummer for Wagakki Band in November 2019. MiMi joined TGJ as a full time member in October 2020. She has also released solo albums (The:O in May 2020 and Family in September 2022) and singles (Love Salt in Sept 2021 and Waaaa in October 2023).

Rina was born in Saitama and started playing clarinet and guitar in brass band club when she was in junior high school. She started her own band in high school on vocals and guitar. She graduated from Maeserhaus majoring in professional musician’s bassist course. Rina won numerous contests as an individual bassist, best band and others while she was in music school.

Rina started her professional career while still a student performing as house band, a session host and a support musician. In 2016, she performed at Ajinomoto stadium for A-Nation organized by Avex. Rina formed an All Girls Band “Elfriede” in 2017 to some success performing at O-Crest in Shibuya which was sold out. In 2018, she released her first mini album Attack!! in 2018 followed by Aquarium in 2019, and her 3rd mini album Ancient in 2020. Rina joined TGJ in July 2020.

TGJ has 64 videos released on YouTube performing a mixture of originals and covers. One of their originals, “Funk No. 1” has over 14 million views! Their Tower of Power’s “What is Hip” (Twin Bass) cover has over 3 million views. TGJ’s single, “ Hot summer” is ranked No. 1 in the R&B/Soul in iTunes (Turkey) and their EP “Tokyo Groove” is ranked at No. 8 in R&B/Soul in iTunes (Japan).

Find out more: www.tokyogroove.band