Aki Takase
Aki Takase (Japanese高瀬 アキ, Aki Takase, born January 26, 1948 in the Osaka Prefecture ) is a Japanese jazz musician ( pianist and composer ).
She studied music in Japan. From 1978 she gave concerts and made recordings in the U.S. with Lester Bowie, David Liebman, Sheila Jordan, John Zorn and others. Since 1987 she lives in Berlin. She works regularly with her husband Alexander of Schlippenbach, but also with Han Bennink, Evan Parker, Paul Lovens and other musicians of the free jazz. With Maria João, David Murray, Guenther Klatt, Silke Eberhard and Rudi Mahall, she worked as a duo, with other musicians in a trio or quartet.
In various projects she sits in a rotating cast personalities with the history of jazz and artists like Ellington (1990 ), Monk ( 1994), Dolphy (1998 ), WC Handy (2002), Fats Waller (2004) and Ornette Coleman (2006).
Since 1981 she has had several performances at the Berlin Jazz Festival. She has won five awards of the German Record Critics, SWR - Jazz Prize, among others.