Kazumi Watanabe was born in Tokyo in 1953. He started playing piano at seven years old, and picked up the guitar when he was twelve, inspired by Ventures. He was 15 when he was astonished by Wes Montgomery’s music and decided to pursue jazz as a career. At 17 years old, he made his first appearance with Infinite. He was soon hailed as the “guitar prodigy extraordinaire”. He also led his own band while playing in Japan’s most prominent groups, including Sadao Watanabe, Masaru Imada and Isao Suzuki. He rode the wave that fusion and guitar music was enjoying, attracting not only jazz but also rock fans. He formed KYLYN in 1979 with three young stars from the Japanese music scene, Akiko Yano and Ryuichi Sakamoto. They went on to record an album, perform live and tour. KYLYN was regarded as the iconic band that had a profound influence on Japanese music. Each member continues to play a pivotal role in their respective scenes. Kazumi was a guest guitarist on the Yellow Magic Orchestra’s 1979 world tour. His performance received rave reviews wherever he went. This catapulted him to international fame. TO CHI KA (1980), a production by Mike Mainieri marked an unprecedented sales figure that brought Kazumi into the forefront of fusion. Following the release, Mainieri was on vibraphone and Warren Bernhardt on keyboards and pianos, Marcus Miller on bass, Omar Hakim on drums, and Marcus Miller on guitar. From 1985 onwards, Mainieri made many epoch-making moves, including playing with Eddie Gomez, Steve Gadd, Warren Bernhardt, Marcus Miller, Omar Hakim, and Omar Harim on drums in the Japan Tour of STEPS. This group is comprised of New York-based musicians. Kazumi, on the other hand, continued pushing the boundaries of fusion with Kazumi Band. This band was formed with musicians of exceptional techniques like keyboardist Masanori Saji, Kazumi Shimizu, Kenji Takamizu, and Hideo Yamaki. He toured the United States with MoboIII, a trio featuring bassist Greg Lee, Shuichi “Ponta”, Murakami and Masanori Sasaji. They performed 17 shows in 12 cities, including New York. Album Mobo was also recorded with Omar Hakim (drums), Marcus Miller (bass), Robbie Shakespeare(bass), Sly Duncanbar (drums) and Michael Brecker (“saxophone”), earning high praise as an experimental approach to a new sound. Kazumi was Japan’s most prominent guitarist during this period. He produced many seminal works in the history and evolution of fusion. Kazumi was active in exploring new areas and recorded an album with Bill Bruford (the British rock legend best known for his involvement in King Crimson) and Jeff Berlin in London in the late 80s. They toured 12 cities in Japan and recorded another album in London. The group also did many more tours. This won the support of progressive rock fans all across the country. Kei Akagi was also a member of a band that included Bunny Brunel, John Wackerman, and Kei Akagi, who played keyboards and bass respectively. They toured 9 cities in the United States, as well as performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland. He performed with local musicians on a Japan Foundation-sponsored tour. Kazumi started to learn acoustic guitar in the 1990s and he also combined it with electric guitar to expand his musical horizons. Kazumi performed strings of European dates in Barcelona (Spain), Italy and France with Yosuke Yamashita (free jazz pianist), as well as with Nobuyoshi Io (bassist). All were praised. Kazumi began his career with a guitar duo that appeared on Tokyo Music Joy in 1987 with John McLaughlin. He continues to share the best of his collaborations with top-tier guitarists around the world, which has sparked a lot of enthusiasm among guitar enthusiasts. Al DiMeola, at the Mt. Al DiMeola at the Fuji Jazz Festival 1993, Larry Coryell recording sessions and tours, Babik reinhardt, son Django Reinhardt at Django Festival 1997, Toninho Horta and Roland Dyens and Martin Taylor. Kazumi began receiving more requests for music arrangements and music contributions after he participated in the Yatsugatake Music Festival, directed by Toru Takemitsu, a contemporary music composer. Kazumi began exploring unplugged guitar music and experimenting resonance with classical music halls. Kazumi founded RESONANCE VOX, which was active from 1991 to 1996. ASIA FANTASY OCHESTRA, a 32-member orchestra featuring Asian musicians of various genres, was Kazumi’s 1995 project. The orchestra performed in four cities, including Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, as well African countries as part the “Taiko Meets Jazz” project. The improviser, while rooted in his Japanese identity developed a global communication network that transcended genre boundaries. Kazumi recorded Dandism with Makoto Ozone in New York in 1998. He recorded the following year live at The Bottom Line in New York, with his New Yorker friends Mike Mainieri and Larry Coryell (guitar), Akiko Yao (piano), John Patitucci on bass, Mino Cinelu on drums, and Akiko Yano (piano). One For All is a great live album that closes the 20th century. Kazumi, who was 30 years old, released Beyond The Infinite as a guitar suite. Kazumi used his improvisational skills to create his unique world. The suite is a work of art that transcends all genres, including classical music, jazz, rock and folk. It was also released as an album. It was later rearranged in an orchestral arrangement and premiered by Seikyo, Kim in 2006. Kazumi’s Guitar Renaissance album was released in February 2003. It was his first solo album. He recorded Mo’Bop in New York that May with Richard Bona, bassist, and drummer Horacio el Négro Hernandez. They were highly publicized after their world premiere at Tokyo Jazz 2003. He continued to perform and release a variety of electric and acoustic projects over the next four-years. He was able to use his solo performance skills, which he had developed with Guitar Renaissance series. In 2006, he performed in Paris and Rome, as well as taking part in an Icelandic guitar festival. He also launched the Asian Super Guitar Project, which he teamed up with guitarists from Korea as well as Hong Kong. The trio recorded Guitar Sam Guk Ji and performed at various Asian jazz festivals. Kazumi created Castle In The Air in 2007, a collaboration project with Koko Tanikawa (pianist/composer), who has been Kazumi’s musical and personal partner since 1997. The album was released in the latter part of 2007. He was part of Castle In The Air’s duo unit. His music supported Koko’s worldview and music. It was rooted in Koko’s deep understanding of the world and the concept coexistence with the natural world. The unit contributed music to the live-action movie Grave Of The Fireflies, which was released in theaters in 2008. Kazumi launched the “Return To Jazz Project” in the midst all these activities to keep his focus on his roots. Jazz Impression was released in fall 2009. He continues to perform live across the country as a duo with Yosuke Inoue and sometimes with guest artists. The Japan Foundation sponsored a tour to China in 2009 that saw Kazumi perform a stereo version of contemporary music. He was joined by Koko Tanikawa, Masato Honda and Jiang Ting, who were both jazz saxophonists. He gained a new appreciation for the potential of contemporary China, especially in jazz and fusion. A series of events were held to commemorate Kazumi’s anniversary as a guitarist in 2010. This included a concert with an orchestra in July, where he performed all movements of Concierto de Aranjuez (the gold standard for guitar concertos) with a pick. The concert attracted a lot of attention because he was the first person from all genres to accept such a challenge. He will also perform at Tokyo Jazz in September, leading “TO CHI KA 2010,” a one-night-only reunion of his former tour mates Mike Mainieri, Warren Bernhardt, Marcus Miller (bass), Omar Hakim and Marcus Miller (piano/keyboards), which raises expectations among jazz/fusion lovers. He also performed at Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto in a special unit that was derived from the Toru Takemitsu tribute project. This performance received rave reviews at Japan Week 2008 in Washington DC. In December, the unit will be performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City and Orange County. Kazumi has had many exposures on radio and TV. He has been on Kansai TV six years, as well as appearing on Yumeno Rannyusha, Kansai’s educational channel, for Acoustic Guitar for Beginners in 2003. He has been a radio DJ on Dogatana World Kazumi Watanabe’s Good Vibration since 2005 and hosted Jazz Tonight at NHK FM for two years. He also shares his musical experiences through print media, writing essays frequently and regularly. Kazumi has contributed music to, and sometimes participated in musicals and plays like DJANGO 1953 and Blood Wedding. This collaboration with Kazumi, which demonstrates his flexibility and ability to work with many performing arts, including dance, Noh dramas, traditional Japanese music, and traditional Japanese music. Kazumi is a well-known film music guitarist, performing and composing theme music and music for important scenes. Kazumi Watanabe currently teaches jazz at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. In 1991, he was awarded the Fumio Nanri Prize.
