Kazumi Watanabe (渡辺香津美) was born on October 14, 1953 in Tokyo, Japan. He is a jazz fusion and instrumental rock guitarist and composer. He has been chosen Best Jazzman 24 times in a row by Swing Journal's annual poll.
In 1979, he joined a group of innovative musicians such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Akiko Yano, Yukihiro Takahashi, Yasuaki Shimizu, Toshiyuki Honda and Shuichi 'Ponta' Murakami to form the legendary all-star band KYLYN, making an impact on the Japanese music scene. In autumn of the same year, he participated in the world tour of Yellow Magic Orchestra. Its huge success brought the name KAZUMI an international recognition. [1][2]
Throughout the 1980s, he worked with a stellar cast of established musicians, including Tony Levin, Bill Bruford, Sly and Robbie, Wayne Shorter, Patrick Moraz, Marcus Miller, Richard Bona and Peter Erskine.
Watanabe has remained prolific and active throughout the 1990s and 2000s and remains one of Japan's best-selling jazz artists. His output is considered some of the better instrumental jazz fusion to emerge from Japan, informed with a particular bite and variety in approaches.
He is known for heavy endorsement and use of guitars by Steinberger and Paul Reed Smith.
Discography
Kazumi Watanabe has released over 30 studio, live and compilation albums, and several DVDs.
Studio and live albums
- Infinite (1971)
- Monday Blues
- Endless Way (1974)
- Milky Shade (1976)
- Olive's Step (1977)
- Mermaid Boulevard (1978)
- Lonesome Cat (1978) Denon Records
- Tokyo Joe (1978)
- Village in Bubbles
- Kylyn (1979)
- Kylyn Live (1979)
- To Chi Ka (1980)
- Talk You All Tight (1981)
- Dogatana (1981)
- Ganesia
- Mobo, Vol. 1 (1982)
- Mobo, Vol. 2 (1983)
- Mobo Club (1983)
- Mobo Splash (1985)
- The Spice of Life (1987)
- The Spice of Life 2 (1988)
- Kilowatt (1989)
- Romanesque (1990)
- Pandora (1991)
- O.X.O
- Resonance Vox
- Jigo-Jtoku
- Oyatsu (1994)
- Oyatsu 2 (1995)
- Espirit (1996)
- Dandyism (1998)
- Dear Tokyo (2001)
- One for All (1999)
- Beyond the Infinite (Kazumi Watanabe album) (2001)
- Guitar Renaissance (2003)
- Mo' Bop (2003)
- Mo' Bop II (2004)
- Guitar Renaissance 2 (2005)
- Guitar Renaissance 3 (2006)
- Mo' Bop III (2006)
Compilations
- Kazumi's Music File 84-94
- Better Days of Kazumi Watanabe
DVDs
References
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
