Yōsuke Yamashita

Yōsuke Yamashita studied at Kunitachi College of Music and Azabu Junior and Senior High School. The recorded working language is Japanese. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are jazz, free jazz and jazz fusion. Distinctions recorded are Medal with Purple Ribbon, Oribe prize, The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette and Fumio Nanri Award.

• Name — Yōsuke Yamashita • Born — 26 February 1942 • Birthplace — Tokyo, Japan • Instrument — Piano • Genre — Jazz • Occupation — Musician, composer, arranger, writer • Label — Enja Records, West 54 Records, Verve Records • Website — jamrice.co.jp

Yamashita was born in Tokyo, Japan, on 26 February 1942. He had violin lessons between the ages of nine and 15, and switched to piano in his teens.

Yamashita first played piano professionally in 1959, at the age of 17, and attended the Kunitachi College of Music and studied classical composition from 1962 to 1967. In the early 1960s, he "was part of a group, with Terumasa Hino and Masabumi Kikuchi, that met at a jazz club called Ginparis to play and discuss jazz every night". Yamashita's first released recording was in 1963, and he became a pioneer of avant-garde and free jazz. He was part of Masahiko Togashi's free jazz quartet in 1965, but it disbanded after three months without recording. The pair were part of Sadao Watanabe's band in 1966, but Yamashita and Togashi disagreed about rhythms, leading to the pianist leaving. He formed his own trio in August 1966, with bassist Satoshi Shigami and drummer Shigenori Honjo; around ten months later, they were replaced by Motoharu Yoshizawa and Yoshisaburo Toyozumi, respectively. Saxophonist Seiichi Nakamura was added a short time later. The quartet recorded for the film Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands in 1967. Near the end of that year, Yamashita developed pleurisy, which meant that he was not musically active for almost a year. In 1969, he formed the Yosuke Yamashita Trio. In 1974, the trio of Yamashita, Akira Sakata (alto sax) and Takeo Moriyama (drums) went on the first of a series of successful European tours, which helped spread beyond Japan Yamashita's and the trio's reputation as driving, fully committed free jazz musicians. The trio broke up in 1983. In the 1980s, Yamashita formed his New York Trio with bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Pheeroan akLaff. In 1994, he was invited to perform at the 50th anniversary concert of jazz label Verve, held at Carnegie Hall. He provided the music for the film Dr. Akagi. He has also led a big band "that combined swing music with free jazz". He has been a visiting professor of music at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, Nagoya University of Arts, and his alma mater, Kunitachi College of Music, in addition to publishing work on improvisation and music. Yamashita performed on a burning piano in 1973 when asked by Japanese graphic designer Kiyoshi Awazu to be the subject in his short film, burning piano. Thirty-five years later, clothed in a protective firefighter's uniform, Yamashita repeated the performance on a beach in western Japan, playing jazz improvisations on a piano which had been set alight. Yamashita is in charge of visiting professor of Jazz course in Kunitachi College of Music since 2010.

• Dancing Kojiki (self released, 1969) – the first live recording at Waseda University with Seiichi Nakamura and Takeo Moriyama • Concert in New Jazz (Teichiku/Union Jazz, 1969) - the first professional live recording with Seiichi Nakamura and Takeo Moriyama • Mina's Second Theme (Victor, 1969) – studio, trio with Seiichi Nakamura and Takeo Moriyama • Mokujiki (Victor, 1970) – studio, trio with Seiichi Nakamura and Takeo Moriyama • April Fool: Coming Muhammad Ali (URC, 1972) – studio, trio with Seiichi Nakamura and Takeo Moriyama • with Masahiko Sato, Piano Duo (Columbia, 1974) – live at Asahi Seimei Hall, • Clay (Enja, 1974) – studio, trio with Akira Sakata, Takeo Moriyama • Yosuke Alone (Bellwood, 1974) – solo • with Manfred Schoof, Akira Sakata, Takeo Moriyama, Distant Thunder (Enja, 1975) – live • Breathtake (Frasco, 1975) – solo • Chiasma (MPS, 1976) – with Akira Sakata, Takeo Moriyama, recorded in 1975 • Banslikana (Enja, 1976) – solo, recorded in 1975 • with Yasutaka Tsutsui, Ie (Frasco, 1976) – recorded in 1975–76 • A day in Music (Frasco, 1976) – duo with Adelhard Roidinger • Montreux Afterglow (Frasco, 1976) – trio live at Montreux Jazz Festival • Arashi (Frasco, 1976) – with Gerald Oshita, Dairakudakan • Umbrella Dance' (Frasco, 1977) • with Adelhard Roidinger, Inner Space (Enja, 1977) • Wave Song (Frasco, 1977) – with Adelhard Roidinger • with Yasutaka Tsutsui, Yasutaka Tsutsui - Bunmei (Victor/Super Fuji Discs, 1978) • Sunayama (Frasco, 1978?) • Invitation – Yosuke In The Gallery (Frasco, 1979) • First Time (Frasco, 1979) • with Haruna Miyake, Exchange (Victor, 1979) • Jugemu – A Figure of Yosuke Yamashita Vol. 1 and Vol.2 (Frasco, 1981) • Picasso - Live, And Then... (Columbia, 1983) - recorded in 1982. CD reissue in 2015. • Washinopanjya!! (Columbia, 1983) • It Don't Mean a Thing (DIW, 1984) – solo • with Hozan Yamamoto, Masahiko Togashi, Breath (Denon, 1984) • It Don't Mean A Thing (DIW, 1984) • with Ruri Shimada, Goji Hamada, V.A., Winter Music (Locus Solus, 1985) • Sentimental (Kitty, 1985) • with Mal Waldron, Piano Duo Live At Pit Inn (CBS/Sony, 1986) • with Kodō, In Live (Denon, 1986) • Rhapsody in Blue (Kitty, 1986) • with Hozan Yamamoto, Bolero (Enja, 1986) • Plays Gershwin (Kitty, 1989) • Crescendo - Live At Sweet Basil (Kitty, 1989) • Sakura (Verve, 1990) – with Cecil McBee and Pheeroan Aklaff • Sakura Live (Verve, 1991) – with Cecil McBee and Pheeroan Aklaff • Kurdish Dance (Verve, 1992) – with Cecil McBee and Pheeroan Aklaff • Dazzling Days (Verve, 1993) – with Joe Lovano, Cecil McBee and Pheeroan Aklaff • Asian Games (Verve Forecast, 1993) – with Bill Laswell and Ryuichi Sakamoto • Playground (Verve, 1993) • Ways of Time (Verve, 1994) – with Tim Berne, Joe Lovano, Cecil McBee and Pheeroan Aklaff • Spider (Verve, 1996) – with Cecil McBee and Pheeroan Aklaff • Canvas In Quiet - Homage To Morio Matsui (Verve, 1996) • Stone Flower - Homage To A.C. Jobim (JVC, 1997) • Duo Live in Warehouse with Eitetsu Hayashi (King/Raijin, 1998) - live in Tokyo • Ballads For You (Trial, 1998) - live in Fuji, Shizuoka • Golden Circle "6" (Trial, 1999) - live in Hamamatsu • Fragments 1999 (Verve, 1999) – with Cecil McBee and Pheeroan Aklaff • Resonant Memories (Verve, 2001) – solo. recorded in 2000. • Graceful Illusion (Universal Music, 2004) • Delightful Contrast (Universal, 2011) – with Cecil McBee and Pheeroan Aklaff • Yamashita, Yosuke Trio (DIW, 2012) - recorded in 1973 • Grandioso (Universal, 2013) – with Cecil McBee and Pheeroan Aklaff • Bolero / Pictures at an Exhibition (JamRice, 2014) – with special bigband • Yosuke Yamashita x Dairo Suga (Velvet Sun, 2014) – with Dairo Suga • From The New World (JamRice, 2015) - with special bigband • In Europe 1983 -complete edition- (Columbia, 2015) - recorded in Germany 1983 • 30 Light -years Floating with Cecil McBee and Pheeroan Aklaff (Verve, 2018) As chamber ensemble “Hakkozan” (with Shigeharu Mukai and Yahiro Tomohiro) • Hakkozan (Zizo, 2002)

As sideman • Masahiko Togashi & Masayuki Takayanagi, Ginparis Session (TBM, 1972) - the first recording in 1963 • Isso Yukihiro, It's So Isso (King, 1990) • Kodō, Gathering (Sony, 1991) - live • Nobuyasu Okabayashi, Made in Japan (Toshiba EMI, 1992) • Magokoro brothers, Zeni-no-Daisansya (Sony/"Ki/oon", 1992) • Kim Dae-hwan, Black Roots (nices, 1993) - live in Seoul, recorded in 1991 • Sachi Hayasaka & Stir Up! 2.26 (Enja, 1994) - live, recorded in 1992 • Kazumi Watanabe, Oyatsu (Universal/domo, 1994) • Shuichi Murakami, Welcome to My Life (Victor, 1998) • Black Out (Jazz), 1999/2.26 Live (Nbagi, 1999) • Yuki Maeda, Jazz Age: Gershwin Song Book (ewe, 1999) • T-Square (band), plays T&The Square Special (SMA, 2012) • Toshi Ichiyanagi, Piano Concerto No.4 "Jazz", Piano Concerto No.5 "Finland", Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra (Camerata Tokyo, 2013) • Saki Takaoka, Sings - Bedtime Stories (Victor, 2014) • Bennie Wallace, Brilliant Corners (Denon, 2015) - recorded in 1986 • Nobuyasu Okabayashi, Requiem – The Heart of Misora Hibari (EMI Music Japan, 2010) • Nao Takeuchi, Obsidian (What's New, 2010) • Shinnosuke Takahashi, Blues 4 Us - Live at Shinjyuku Pit Inn (Pit Inn, 2011) • Akira Horikoshi & Akihito Obama, Lotus Position (Waternet Sound, 2016) • Asako Motojima, Melodies of Memories (Greenfin, 2017) • Nobuyasu Okabayashi,Shinta Juni Show (DIW, 2018) Omnibus Albums • Jazz in Tokyo '69 (Tact, 1969) • Memories of Bill Evans (Victor, 1999) • Gets Gilberto + 50 (verve, 2013)

• Jazz Daimyo Sound Revue (Tokuma Japan, 1986; re-issue 2002) • Dr. Kanzo Original Soundtrack / Yosuke Yamashita on Cinema (Verve, 1998) • Vengeance for Sale Original Soundtrack (Vap, 2002) • Ecstasy of the Angels Soundtrack (Ultra-Vybe, 2008) - recorded in 1972 • Shirō Sagisu, Evangelion PianoForte 1 (King, 2013) • Segodon Original Soundtrack The Best (Avex Classics, 2018) - with Minami Kizuki(vo) • Segodon Original Soundtrack II (Avex Classics, 2018) - with Minami Kizuki(vo)