Song Yi showed creative promise from an early age when she starting with Piano, Korean traditional singing, Korean traditional percussion, and drawing.

She studied classical composition at the University of Music and Fine Art in Graz, Austria and Jazz vocals at the Music University in Basel, Switzerland where she developing her unique sound. Through her background in classical composition, she uses her understanding of harmonic structure to create incomparable improvisations. Song Yi's music is heavily influenced by instrumental Jazz Music, and her refined compositions have a clear musical direction with her signature 'east meets west' sound.

In 2013, as the inaugural Quincy Jones CJ&E fellow, she studied at the Berklee College of Music where she was also awarded the Billboard Endowed Award. Her teachers include many major artists including Lisa Thorson, Guillermo Klein, Jorge Rossy, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Tiger Okoshi and George Garzone amongst others.

In 2015, Song Yi released her first album “Straight” in with her Quintet, featuring master Phil Grenadier on trumpet. She was also featured in Alain Mallet’s first Album with Jamey Haddad, and Peter Slavov. She has performed with many illustrious collegues including Simon Shaheen, Billey Drewes, Guillermo Klein, Bill McHenry, Jeff Ballard, Vadim Neselovskyi, George Garzone, Tiger Okoshi

Song Yi recently made her Blue Note debut in New York to great acclaim. She has also played at many clubs/festivals including the Cornelia Street Cafe NY, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Falcoln, the Bitter End, Drom, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Boston, Regattabar Courtyard Boston, Basel Clubfestival, Off Beat Jazzfestival Basel, Langnau Jazz festival and the Next Generation Jazz Festival Monterey.