YÅsuke Yamashita
Yosuke Yamashita (Japanese山下 洋 辅, Yosuke Yamashita, born February 26, 1942 in the prefecture of Tokyo) is a Japanese pianist of the Creative Jazz. In Europe, it was in the 1970s as " the most famous representative of the Japanese free jazz " (Martin Kunzler ). With an initial totalem use of energy and, finally, always subtle differentiation, he developed an independent music, often referred to as " kamikaze Jazz" first met with incomprehension. In contrast, said his colleague Walter Norris piano: "He is much more than a very excellent technician, he has the same power to express themselves, as we heard it with Charlie Parker. Of course, there may be people who call this music as a kind of noise, but which are completely wrong. Yamashita is reflected in his music the present. "
Life and work
Yamashita had as a child, first violin; in the Dixieland band of his brother, he played the piano and took private lessons with a pianist. From 1962 to 1967 he studied at the Kunitachi College of Music ( Kunitachi Ongaku Daigaku ) composition, piano and music history. Already at that time he has performed with the bands of Terumasa Hino, and Sadao Watanabe Masabumi Kikuchi. In 1969 he founded his a free Power Play verhaftetes trio with saxophonist Seiichi Nakamura, who was later replaced by Akira Sakata and drummer Takeo Moriyama and Shota Koyama and first albums presented, but these were first released only on the Japanese market. In 1974 he graduated with the trio a very successful European tour with performances at the Moers Festival, the Donaueschingen Music Festival and the Berlin Jazz Festival. In the following years, further guest appearances in Europe, where the trio was also reinforced by Manfred Schoof or by needle Roidinger. In Japan, he joined with Masahiko Satō a duo. 1979 presented Yamashita his trio for the first time in the United States, where he appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival, but also with the AACM musicians Joseph Jarman, Malachi Favors, and Don Moye, the album " First Time " grossed. In the 1980s he gave tonal differentiations more space and began to care for large ensembles; he led a big band and took it with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Osaka own compositions, as well as Gershwin's " Rhapsody in Blue " on. In addition, he now also joined with founded in the tradition of percussion ensembles as Kodo from Japan ( album " Vs Yosuke Yamashita Kodo -. Live", 1986) or SamulNori from South Korea. With the shakuhachi player Hozan Yamamoto, he played the album a "Bolero " with Bennie Wallace "Brilliant Corners ". Also, it came to performing and recording with Bill Laswell, Lester Bowie, Elvin Jones and Max Roach. In 1988 he founded with Cecil McBee and Pheeroan akLaff be " New York Trio " which also appeared with Joe Lovano, Ravi Coltrane and Tim Berne and recordings such as " Crescendo ", " Sakura Live" or "Wind of Age" presented. In parallel, he entertained a Japanese trio. Yamashita is also a widely read essayist; He has published more than ten books in Japan.
In May 2003, Yamashita was awarded by the Japanese government with the ribbon in purple for his services. Since 2004 he has been a visiting professor at the Kunitachi College of Music. In 2008 he played on his burning ( old ) wings and let themselves be filmed there.
Disco Graphical Notes
- Clay ( Enja, 1976) solo
- Chiasm (MPS, 1976) Trio with Akira Sakata (as) and Takeo Moriyama (dr ) live in Heidelberg 1975
- Banslikana ( Enja, 1976) solo
- Innerspace ( Enja, 1977) with needle Roidinger
- It Do not Mean A Thing (DIW, 1984) solo
- Breath ( Denon, 1984) with Hozan Yamamoto Masahiko Togashi and
- Kurdish Dance ( Verve, 1993) with Joe Lovano, Cecil McBee and Pheeroan akLaff
- Dazzling Days ( Verve, 1993)
- Fragment 1999 ( Verve, 1999) with McBee & akLaff
- Resonant Memories ( Verve, 2000) solo
Lexigraphic entries
- Martin Kunzler, Jazz Encyclopedia Vol 2 Reinbek 2002; ISBN 3-499-16513-9