It's been nearly 40 years since Japanese jazz-pianist Yosuke Yamashita
took his first tentative steps into the world of jazz.
After a short stint with Japanese saxophonist Sadao Watanabe in the
mid-1960s, Yamashita broke away from the conservative jazz world,
however, and formed Japan's first bass-less avant-garde jazz trio in
1969.
In 1983, after a decade and half with his jazz trio, Yamashita took time
out from jazz exclusively and began to dabble in world music. Performing
with numerous percussion groups, including Japan's globally famous Kodo
Group, Yamashita was soon a leading light in the world music and jazz
scenes that exploded in Japan during the 1980s.
Not that he confined himself solely to world music. Yamashita also began
toying with classical compositions and went on to record a series of his
own solo piano improvisational interpretations of works by Ravel, Dvorak
and Bach.
Debuting in the US in 1985, Yamashita's performance proved so noteworthy
that New York Times's Jon Pareles lauded his style as ".. aggressive
playing tempered with just enough melodic finesse."
In 1988, Yamashita formed his New York Trio. While his new jazz combo
played more mainstream jazz than his earlier avant-garde threesome, the
trio still enjoyed toying with classical, world and big-band tunes.
Yamashita's highly adventurous improvisational skills still featured
prominently, however, regardless of the combo's vibe.
Along with spending much of the last decade touring the globe with his
well-versed New York-ers, Yamashita has made plenty of time to hit the
recording studio. While the group has released countless CDs, many of
them have until only recently been made available outside of Japan. Some
of Yamashita's international releases include the very popular Kurdish
Dance (Polygram), Ways of Time (Verve) and the most recent Fragments
(Verve/Universal).
Yosuke Yamashita and the New York Trio will be performing tonight at the
Chih Teh Hall in Kaohsiung (高雄市文化中心至德堂) and tomorrow at Taipei's National Dr Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall(台北國父紀念館). Performances
begin at 7:30pm and tickets for both shows cost between NT$300 and
NT$1,200 and are available at the door or from ERA Ticketing outlets
nationwide.
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