Takase

Japanese pianist, composer Aki Takase collaborates with her peers on what could be considered an all-star international lineup, originating from her partnership with French clarinetist Louis Sclavis. Interspersed with several pieces, spanning one-minute to two- minutes in length, the nouveau chamber, jazz, and improvised segments are brusque, changeable and smoothly cohesive. In addition, many of these works take on the flavor of intersecting vignettes. Takase's Midas touch can be ever-so-gentle or constructed on steamy, avant-like flurries. The band conjures notions of harmony or despair via blithe unison reprises and an uncluttered musical environment, forged with great depth and compositions that don't snugly reside within one explicit genre.

Aki Takase Plays "Fats" Waller is a 2004 album by Japanese pianist Aki Takase. Taken from a recording done in June 2003, this was released by German label Enja.

The project 'Hotel Zauberberg' arose out of Aki Takase's and Yumi Paul's shared admiration for the writer Thomas Mann. It mostly consists of notated compositions, with some improvised parts as well. Eleven of the eighteen pieces were penned by Aki Takase, another five are collaborations with Ayumi Paul. Additionally, there are adaptations of a Mozart Minuet and a Bach Partita.

Having feted a number of significant composers in the past - from Fats Waller, W.C. Handy and Duke Ellington to Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy - this recent collaboration of Takase's with DJ Illvibe reveals a culmination of the pianist's fascination and influence of a non-jazz composer this time around in Conlon Nancarrow, who arguably was best known for his works for player pianos that went well beyond human capacity and capabilities. I have been working with DJ Illvibe for a long time and I think it relates to my inspiration of and approach to Nancarrow… (so) I thought I could compose in a similar way, explains Takase regarding this new project.

Shima Shoka is the 1991 album by Japanese pianist Aki Takase. This comes from a live recording done in Berlin in 1990 and is a solo piece. This was released by the Enja label

Aki Takase's phenomenal technique and her talent for improvisation is well known, as is her love for the jazz classics. She has already paid tribute to Fats Waller and recorded with saxophonist Silke Eberhard an "Ornette Coleman Anthology". Now she takes a close look at the arguably most influential jazz pianist of the jazz tradition: Duke Ellington.

Lively conversations between piano and saxophone by two major figures of European jazz, the Berlin-based Aki Takase and Daniel Erdmann (Reims). After many successfull BMC releases - two albums of Daniel Erdmann's Velvet Revolution (German Record Critics Prize, Echo Prize, SWR Jazz Prize) and a recording of Aki Takase's Japanic formation featuring Erdmann -, they present this fantastic duo.

So long, Eric! For this tribute to Eric Dolphy, Alexander von Schlippenbach and Aki Takase have put together an ensemble with some of the best interpreters of Dolphys music. In addition to pianists Aki Takase and Alexander von Schlippenbach, Han Bennink and Karl Berger, two of Dolphys former collaborators, can be heard on drums and vibraphone. The band is completed by one of the most exciting front lines on the European jazz scene: Rudi Mahall, Nils Wogram, Axel Dörner, Henrik Walsdorff and Tobias Delius. Bold arrangements and visionary playing bring out the exploding expressivity of Dolphys compositions and prove that even 50 years after Dolphys death they sound fresh and relevant.