Yōsuke Yamashita (山下 洋輔, Yamashita Yōsuke, born 26 February 1942)[1] is a Japanese jazz pianist, composer and writer. His piano style is influenced by free jazz, modal jazz and soul jazz.[2][3]
Since the late 1980s, Yamashita's main performing group has consisted of Cecil McBee (bass), Pheeroan akLaff (drums), and often Joe Lovano (saxophone).
Early life
Yamashita was born in Tokyo, Japan, on 26 February 1942.[4] He had violin lessons between the ages of nine and 15, and switched to piano in his teens.[5]
Later life and career
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.[6] In the early 1960s, he "was part of a group, with Terumasa Hino and Masabumi Kikuchi, that met at a jazz club called Ginparis (銀巴里) to play and discuss jazz every night".[4] 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.[7] The pair were part of Sadao Watanabe's band in 1966, but Yamashita and Togashi disagreed about rhythms, leading to the pianist leaving.[8] 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.[9] Saxophonist Seiichi Nakamura was added a short time later.[9] The quartet recorded for the film Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands in 1967.[10] Near the end of that year, Yamashita developed pleurisy, which meant that he was not musically active for almost a year.[10]
In 1969, he formed the Yosuke Yamashita Trio.[4] 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.[5] The trio broke up in 1983.[4]
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".[4] 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.[11]
Yamashita is in charge of visiting professor of Jazz course in Kunitachi College of Music since 2010.[12]
Legacy
Critic Marc Moses, writing for The Japan Times in 1990, commented that "It is not an exaggeration to say that Yamashita is probably more responsible than any other individual for broadening the horizon of the creative Japanese jazz scene."[13]
In 2003, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by the Japanese government (紫綬褒章, [しじゅほうしょう] Error: {{nihongo}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 1) (help)) for his contributions to the arts and academia.
Discography
Jazz albums
As leader/co-leader
Dancing Kojiki (Dancing 古事記) (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 (木喰) (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
