Summer Kodama is a Japanese-American upright/electric bassist, improviser, composer, and producer. She has been a full-time performing, recording and touring musician since 2021; though she made her professional debut on Las Vegas Strip in 2016. Some performance credits include Disneyland, Postmodern Jukebox, Il Divo and Ada Lea.
She is currently prioritizing her debut EP under her solo performer-producer project, “Empty Melon”. The mission of EM is to create a multi-sensory and poly creative “performance universe” through artistic collaborations; combining live performance, audio production, hardware synth and a hybrid of visual media: animation and recycled footage.
In addition to performance and creative production, she has a passion for creating sustainable support systems for underrepresented artists.
Summer’s recent creative efforts include, composing and performing the music for ReWritten (a dance/theatre production created by queer artists), creating the Access Artists Mentorship Program (for underrepresented artists), and co-producing digital content for Arcade Bops (Video Game Music).
Some recent accolades include:
2024 Mutual Mentorships for Musicians
2022 Semi-Finalist for New Jazz Legacy Award | New Music USA
2021 Semi-Finalist for FocusYear Band | JazzCampus Basel
2023, 2022 Performing Artist for Montreal Jazz Festival
2021 Featured Artist for OFF Jazz Festival in Montreal
2021 Artist in Residence at Bethany Arts
2020 Winner for Downbeat Student Music Award for Outstanding Composition
During her time as a student, she won numerous fellowships:
2020 Participant for BMI Jazz Composers Workshop
2019 Participant for Banff Jazz and Creative Music Intensive
2019 Winner (Bassist) for Sisters in Jazz | Jazz Education Network
2018 Winner (Bassist) for the Disneyland All - American College Band
2018 - 2020 Recipient for Schulich Fellowship | McGill University
2017 Winner (UNLV Jazz I) Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival
2016, 2015 Top 3 (UNLV Jazz I) Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival
Summer completed both of her degrees on full scholarship:
MM at McGill University for Jazz and Composition in 2020
BM at the University of Nevada of Las Vegas for Jazz Performance in 2017