Drummer Akira Tana has worked with Sonny Rollins,
Sonny Stitt, Zoot Sims, Hubert
Laws, Milt Jackson, Jim Hall, Art Farmer, Tete Montoliu, Paul Winter,
Paquito D'Rivera, James Moody, J.J. Johnson, Lena Horne, the Heath
Brothers, and Manhattan Transfer. He has appeared on over 150
recordings.
Tana co-led a quintet with bassist Rufus Reid, called TanaReid, which
released five CDs. A further five CDs followed with his own bands,
Otonowa, and The Secret Agent Men Band.
Akira appeared here previously with Larry Vuckovich, Jerome Sabbagh,
Jon Mayer, Knucklebean, Rob Schneiderman, Tim Armacost/David
Berkman, John Klopotowski, and Mark Lewis.
Born in Osaka, Japan, Atsuko Hashimoto began playing organ at
the age of four. At age 18, she started working for Hammond Japan,
giving live organ demonstrations and instruction as a Hammond-certified
teacher.
At the 40th Naniwa Arts Festival in 2003, she received several awards
for her outstanding achievements in music, including the Shoji Nakayama
Jazz Award, the Progressive Musician's Prize, and awards from both the
Governor and Mayor of Osaka.
She has a toured with Jeff Hamilton and Houston Person on the West
Coast, and performed at Port-Townsend Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz
Festival, Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival, Frank DeMiero
Jazz Festival and more.
She currently maintains a busy schedule performing and teaching in
Osaka.
Hideki Kawamura was born into a musical family in Kobe. He began
playing sax around age 12.
He graduated Osaka Music University. During
that time he began to playing with Makoto Nakamura, and Noriko Ueda. He
became a member of "Human Soul" and released four CDs.
Also he lived in
New York for a while to take lessons from his mentor Ron Blake.
In
2000,he moved to Tokyo and performed with many musicians such as
Shigeharu Mukai and Norihide Shiota.
He currently lives in Kobe and
works with many Kansai musicians.
In addition to performing, Hideki has
acted as a sax instructor in Osaka Music University.
In 2016, he
received the Naniwa Jazz Award from both the Governor and Mayor of
Osaka.
He recorded his debut album in October 2016 with Akira Tana
(drums), Yutaka Hashimoto (guitar), and Atsuko Hashimoto (organ).
Yutaka Hashimoto was born in Osaka. He began playing guitar
around age 14. He studied under Satoshi Inoue, and quickly began
working with many Kansai musicians.
He had a chance to perform with Dr. Lonnie Smith and had a tour with
Bill Heid and Scott Peterson in Japan.
In 2002, he performed at San Jose Jazz Festival, and also the White
Noise International Jazz Festival.
He has performed and recorded with Atsuko Hashimoto, Takayuki Yagi,
Harvey Thompson and Jeff Hamilton.
In 2014 recorded his album "Hear You" with Wil Blades (organ), Dylan
Hicks (drums) and Hideki Kawamura (tenor sax).
In 2015 he received NANIWA Jazz Award from both the Governor and Mayor
of Osaka.