Review by Alex Henderson (All Music Guide) on ok|ok's "Eating Mantis"  (RKM 2008)
Although vocalists ranging from Betty Carter to Ann Dyer to Kitty Brazelton have made exciting contributions to avant-garde jazz, the vast majority of avant-garde jazz recordings have been totally instrumental. So when a vocal-oriented CD that is relevant to avant-garde jazz comes along, one tends to take notice. Avant-garde jazz isn't the only ingredient on OK OK's vocal-oriented Eating Mantis; most of the material combines avant-garde jazz with avant-garde rock, and some fans of art rock and alternative rock are likely to take notice of this experimental recording. But avant-garde jazz is certainly a major part of the equation for OK OK, who have a major asset in lead singer Kyoko Kitamura. Singing primarily in English but occasionally detouring into Japanese, Kitamura is an expressive vocalist who knows how to be quirky and eccentric but is also quite musical...

Review by Richard Kamins (Hartford Courant) on ok|ok's "Eating Mantis"
...Kitamura's voice is an amazing instrument, with great range.  [...] If you're someone who likes to be challenged, who has to go back and listen until what you hear makes sense (or begins to make sense), look no further. "Eating Mantis" is "new" music that should be heard.

Review from Point of Departure October 2009 Issue by Bill Shoemaker on Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings "Madeleine Dreams" (Firehouse 12 Records 2009)
...Kitamura is a gifted singer [...] electrifying on Ornette Coleman’s "What Reason Could I Give"...

Review from AllAboutJazz October 2009 Issue by Ivana Ng on Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings "Madeleine Dreams"
...Kyoko Kitamura flows through the divide between dream and reality with grace. She narrates the first seven tracks, the lyrics of which are excerpts from the story, with a smoky alto that at turns belongs to a children’s storyteller, slam poet or blues singer...

Review by Richard Kamins (Hartford Courrant) on Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings "Madeleine Dreams"
...Vocalist Kyoko Kitamura is a wonder here; she serves as narrator, as a character in the song/stories and as another instrument in the ensemble with her siren-like voice...

Review by "Uncle" Dave Lewis (music writer) on ok|ok's "Eating Mantis"
...Kyoko Kitamura is a wonderful storyteller and has a lovely, remarkably flexible voice; she writes from the standpoint of someone who has seen a lot of the world -- she is a former foreign correspondant -- however, she is not "worldly." There is a sense of wonder, awe and innocence in her voice, tempered somewhat by an innate and inscrutable sense of loneliness...

Review from JazzTimes about Jamie Baum's "Solace" (Sunnyside 2008)
Solace is a no-frills, 74-minute-long major statement by flutist, composer and arranger Jamie Baum. Its impressive centerpiece is her four-part "Ives Suite," [...] Part three, "Questions Unanswered," is particularly striking, where Kyoko Kitamura's atonal vocalizing and then her chanting of the words "misleading," "unintended," "blame" and "grey zone," in addition to recorded excerpts from speeches by President John F. Kennedy, all combine to form a powerful anti-war statement. [...]- Scott Albin --JazzTimes - August 2008