Yutaka Shiina (piano) Profile
Simultaneously bold and sensitive, with a naturally swinging touch overflowing with unparalleled imagination, Yutaka Shiina’s piano sound and original compositions are delighting music fans around the world.
Shiina was born on September 23, 1964 in Sumida-ku, Tokyo. He began his musical career while still a student at the Department of Composition of Kunitachi Musical University. In 1991, he and trumpeter Roy Hargrove launched the group “The Jazz Networks”, including both American and Japanese musicians (of whom Shiina was the leader.) In 1996 he played with the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine. In 2003, he performed the Gershwin Piano Concerto and other works with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra under the batons of Myung-Whun Chung, Hugh Wolff and Erich Kunzel.
Shiina has made many albums as a leader, for which he has won awards including Best New Artist.
In 2015, He released 7 th album “Future Swing” featuring Mike Rodriguez (trumpet), Tim Armacost (tenor sax), Yasushi Nakamura (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums). The following month the same group toured all over Japan.
His latest offering, featuring Pierrick Pedron (alto sax), Yuhei Honkawa (bass) and Junji Hirose (drums), is “Ballad Imaginations”, released in November 2018.
In addition to his musical activities at home, Shiina tours America and Europe every year, to great acclaim. He has performed and recorded with world-renowned musicians including trumpeters Nicholas Payton, saxophonist Joshua Redman, and Eric Alexander, and Max Ionata, bassists Christian McBride and Reginald Veal, Rodney Whitaker, and Robert Hurst, drummers Gregory Hutchinson, Herlin Riley, Clarence Penn, Gene Jackson, Carl Alen, and Ali Jackson among others.
Beginning in 1998, he has developed educational programs for children both in Japan and overseas, including lectures, workshops, and joint concerts. Since 2007 he has been a piano instructor at Kunitachi Musical University’s summer school. Shiina gave lectures and led workshops and concerts at the University of Michigan (Detroit) in 2008. He has also served as Director of the Jazz Orchestra Club at Meikai University (Chiba Prefecture) since 2009.
As can be seen from this summary of his career to date, Yutaka Shiina is proving to be one of Japan's most active and recognized jazz musicians, both domestically and internationally. He looks forward to an equally rewarding and fruitful year in 2021.
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