Biography
MADOCA is a world-class keyboardist and composer. Her style is a fusion of Contemporary/ Classic Jazz, Soul, Funk, Salsa, Jazz Fusion providing musical sustenance for your mind and soul.
Madoca began studying Piano/Organ at the age of seven, played through her teenage years, and graduated from the Senzoku Music University in Kawasaki, Japan with a major in Composition & Piano. She’s got her scholarship program at the Nemu Music, where she studied jazz piano, theory, ensemble, composition. Her teaching exploits included an Education Partnership Program from Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Madoca got her first taste of show business in 1993 when touring with Japanese national bands and also performing on NHK TV in Tokyo. She has performed with several American Bands which included some navy base and NCO clubs appearances and opened for The Drifters.
In 1994, Madoca moved to China where she performed on the world stage in Australia, France, United Kingdom, and United States of America with various Chinese major artists, including PolyGram recording artist Jacky Chueng and Sandy Lam. Her selection, "I Don't Cry Anymore" was the winner of a contest called Song Writer's Quest, a competition organized by the CASH.
Prior to moving to the U.S., she has performed sideman work for several Asian pop stars. "Music is my Life" Madoca says, and she expresses her music with passion, expression. In 1998, Kawahara worked with The Prince Project, they've traveled the world as a working unit.
In 2003, Madoca finally made the move to the U.S., where she settled in Atlanta, GA. She formed band called Madoca & Co. She performed the Joe Sample (RIP), Herbie Hancock, and the Ramsey Lewis Tribute Concerts. She has also opened for Chris Botti, Rick Braun, Jonathan Butler, Richard Elliott, India Arie, Jean Carne and Pamela Williams, to name a select few. she has performed at the Michelob GOT JAZZ Concert etc. Her musical influences include the aforementioned Hancock, Lewis and Sample, as well as Chick Corea, the Jeff Lorber Fusion, Jimmy Smith, George Duke (RIP) and Eddie Palmieri, yet, her style is uniquely her own. She has also worked with Eric Marienthal, Paul Young and All 4 One and many more.
"Spiritual" from her 2nd album, Amethyst, was one of the hits in Atlanta's WCLK by Morris Baxter's show #1 in 2008. Her first national single “Surrender,” caught fire across the country, was on the Billboard Smooth Jazz “Most Added” list in March 2018 and was on the Smooth Jazz Network Top 100 Chart for April and May, 2018. Madoca's second single "On the Beach (With You)" was on the Billboard Smooth Jazz “Most Added” list in August 2018 and was on the Smooth Jazz Network Top 100 Chart from August 2018 ~ December 2018. Madoca's third single “Illusions of Love,”– the title song from her album has produced by Bob Baldwin and it was on the Billboard Smooth Jazz and Groove Jazz Music “Most Added” charts on June 17, 2019 and it has been on the Smooth Jazz Network Top 100 Chart! Distributed by City Sketches (Via the Orchard / Sony Red Music digital platform).
Her single "I Feel You", caught fire across the country again, it is on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Most Added list in October 2021 & the Smooth Jazz national charts.
Madoca Kawahara is the real deal and deserves your immediate attention.
Madoca became a Grammy voting member in April of 2018. Madoca has released her 6th Single "Angel Time" on June 24, 2022, produced by jazz great, Kim Waters. It was on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Most Added list on July 9, 2022 and Smooth jazz Network in the Top 100 Charts in September, October, 2022. It is getting radio airplay nationally and internationally.
Madoca's latest single “New Vibrations” has been released of Spring 2023, produced by the legendary Kim Waters. It is on the #1 Most Added List on Smooth jazz.com and getting airplays on 86 smooth jazz radio stations nationally and internationally. (2023).
As of June 2026, her latest single, “Love Frequency - Her Wisdom, My Peace” has received growing radio attention, with campaign highlights including Mediabase Smooth Jazz Chart Most Added, Billboard/Mediabase airplay, Smooth Jazz Network Top 100, Smooth Jazz airplay reports, and a #2 Most Added report on the Radio Wave/Groove Jazz Internet Airplay Chart.
Madoca recently released her 2026 EP, Borderless Nostalgia, featuring original music with a focus on expressive piano, groove-based arrangements, and a refined contemporary jazz sound. Four tracks from the project have received radio support, highlighting both her sensitivity as a pianist and her distinctive voice as a composer.
Artist photography by Stefan Glazer
