MAO SONE

Born into a musical family, Sone was raised in a rich artistic environment—his paternal grandmother was a shamisen player and his maternal grandmother a jazz café owner. He began classical piano at an early age and was soon drawn to improvisation and music theory. Inspired by Louis Armstrong, he picked up the trumpet at age 8. At 9, he began performing around Nagareyama, Chiba, and by his childhood had already shared the stage with global jazz legends such as Terumasa Hino and Ray Bryant, setting his path toward a professional career.

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He made his professional debut in high school, performing with Norio Maeda and Takeshi Inomata. In 2010, Sone entered Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship, graduating top of his class in 2014. He later became part of the inaugural master’s program, again graduating summa cum laude in 2016. While at Berklee, he studied under Tiger Okoshi, Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, Sean Jones, and Hal Crook. He performed at top-tier international jazz festivals including Newport, Montreal, Monterey, and Toronto.

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Sone received numerous international accolades, including First Prize at the 2014 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition and a finalist placement at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition the same year. In 2016, he won the prestigious “Keep an Eye” Jazz Award. In 2017, he led his own group at major venues like New York’s Blue Note and Washington DC’s Blues Alley. That same year, he began his career in jazz education as a faculty member of The Berklee Global Jazz Workshop at the Newport Jazz Festival.

His double album Infinite Creature (Pony Canyon, 2018), entirely self-produced, marked his major label debut. Based in Tokyo, he has performed globally. In 2020, he made his acting debut as the lead in the film Trumpet (directed by Kevin Heflin), also serving as musical director. The film won numerous awards at international festivals, including the Short Shorts Film Festival in Tokyo.

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In 2022, he released Brightness of the Lives with his long-standing quartet featuring Mei Inoue (guitar), Ren Yamamoto (bass), and Hiro Kimura (drums). The album gained widespread acclaim, including a cover feature in Jazz Japan, and sold-out release concerts at Blue Note Tokyo and Billboard Osaka.

His first solo album Plays Standards was released in 2023, followed by a successful Blue Note tour across Shanghai and Beijing. In 2025, he performed at the Opening Ceremony of Expo 2025 Osaka-Kansai.

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That same year, he formed the duo MAOSHO with Tsugaru-shamisen virtuoso Sho Asano, releasing their debut single with Avex. Their song “Hibiki” was selected as the autumn theme for MBS Weather Report, gaining widespread attention. The duo’s New York performances were also featured in local media, further establishing their international presence. Additionally, Sone collaborated with bandoneonist Kazuma Miura for the concert series “Latin Tango,” exploring the fusion between new tango and Latin jazz.

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As a composer and arranger, Sone has contributed to projects such as Danilo Pérez’s Jazz 100 (2018), Wayne Shorter’s opera Iphigenia (2019), and Nat King Cole Christmas, directed by Terri Lyne Carrington. In 2024, he served as piano supervisor, composer, and performer for the Netflix series Beyond Goodbye, continuing to expand his creative scope across genres and media.

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In 2025, Sone released Eight Little Pieces, a suite blending jazz and large ensemble writing—hailed as a culmination of his musical journey and one of his most defining works to date.