Kengo was born in Osaka (Japan). At the age of twelve, he learned classical guitar. At seventeen years of age, he switched to electric bass. He studied at Berklee College of Music, Boston in 1988 and took lessons from Mr. Whit. Kengo was inspired by the acoustic sounds and he started to take the acoustic basse seriously. He later played with young lions like Roy Hargrove and Antonio Hart at Wally’s Jazz Club. In recognition of his outstanding musicianship, he was awarded the John Neves Memorial Scholarship by Berklee College of Music. Kengo began his professional career in music as a musician in New York City in 1991. His glowing reputation soon followed him, and he was highly sought after by some of the most prominent jazz musicians in New York. He was a performer with Wynton Marsalis and Mal Waldron, Cyrus Chestnut (Benny Golson), Mal Waldron, Cyrus Chestnut, Cyrus Chestnut, Marcus Printup, Sadao Watanabe, Makoto Ozone, Wess “Warmdaddy”, Anderson. In 1996, he performed his first concert with Lincoln center Jazz for Young People Concert Series, which was directed by Wynton Marsalis. He was a member the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, and performed at President Summit 1997. He had been performing with the Cyrus Chestnut Trio from March 1998 to January 2000. He also toured in 2001 with Wynton Marsalis’ Septet and performed “Live at The House of Tribes”, a CD with Wynton Marsalis Quartet. In February 2001, Verve released Kengo’s debut album “Divine”. He has been voted the number one Japanese Jazz Bass player three consecutive years by the readers poll of SWING Journal magazine. He is a composer/arranger and has been voted in the top ten by readers of SWING Journal magazine. from http://kengonakamura.com
