36 Facts About Ryo Kawasaki

Ryo Kawasaki was a Japanese jazz fusion guitarist, composer and band leader, best known as one of the first musicians to develop and popularise the fusion genre and for helping to develop the guitar synthesizer in collaboration with Roland Corporation and Korg.

Ryo Kawasaki produced several techno dance singles, formed his own record company called Satellites Records, and later returned to jazz-fusion in 1991.

Ryo Kawasaki was born on February 25,1947, in Koenji, Tokyo, while Japan was still struggling and recovering from the early post World War II period.

Ryo Kawasaki's father, Torao Kawasaki, was a Japanese diplomat who had worked for The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1919.

Torao was already 58 years old when Ryo Kawasaki was born as an only child.

Ryo Kawasaki's mother encouraged him to take piano and ballet lessons, and he took voice lessons and solfege at age four and violin lessons at five, and he was reading music before elementary school.

When Ryo Kawasaki was 10, he bought a ukulele and, at 14, he got his first acoustic guitar.

Ryo Kawasaki did some teaching and contest judging at the Yamaha musical instrument manufacturer's jazz school.

Ryo Kawasaki recorded his first solo album for Polydor Records when he was 22.

Ryo Kawasaki recorded his second album for Toshiba when he was 24.

Ryo Kawasaki has recorded and worked with notable Japanese jazz musicians such as drummer Takeshi Inomata and Sound limits, saxophonist Jiro Inagaki and Soul Mates, saxophonist Keiichiro Ebisawa, saxophonist Seiichi Nakamura, pianist Masahiko Sato, saxophonist Hidehiko Matsumoto and many others.

Soon Ryo Kawasaki was jamming regularly as part of the jazz community's "loft scene", and was invited to play with Bobbi Humphrey.

Ryo Kawasaki played on another Gil Evans album on RCA, There Comes a Time, with Tony Williams on drums.

Ryo Kawasaki rehearsed for a month with the third edition of Tony Williams' Lifetime with trio format with bassist Doug Rauch working with Carlos Santana at that time, but Tony left to spend a year in Europe before the band got the chance to perform in public.

Ryo Kawasaki followed in the footsteps of Jim Hall, Gabor Szabo and Larry Coryell by becoming the guitarist in the Chico Hamilton Band, playing on a US tour and working on various film scores that Chico recorded in Hollywood.

Ryo Kawasaki made his debut US album, Juice, in 1976 for RCA and was one of the first Japanese jazz artists to sign with a major label in the States.

Ryo Kawasaki followed that recording with two more albums, Prism and Eight Mile Road, for the Japanese label East Wind.

Ryo Kawasaki joined the Elvin Jones Band for a year-long tour of North and South America and Europe.

Ryo Kawasaki explored Music of India, learned ragas and recorded an Audio Fidelity album, Ring Toss, that combined eastern and western music.

Ryo Kawasaki recorded an album called Sapporo for the Swiss label America Sound in 1980 while touring Switzerland and Germany.

Ryo Kawasaki invented his own guitar synthesizer in 1979, and used it to perform numerous solo shows at planetariums from 1980 to 1983.

Ryo Kawasaki formed the jazz-rock group The Golden Dragon and performed concerts regularly in early 1980s.

Fostex developed the first quarter- inch-tape, eight-track recorder called A8 along with 2 track mastering machine A2 and asked Ryo Kawasaki to be the first artist to use it.

Ryo Kawasaki recorded the album Ryo in 1981 for Philips Records and gained notoriety for creating all the music himself.

Ryo Kawasaki did another similar recording, Lucky Lady, the next year.

Ryo Kawasaki created an all-synthesized album, Images, in 1987; and the soundtrack, Pleasure Garden, in 1990, for an IMAX film about the preservation of the Earth's endangered tropical rain forests.

Ryo Kawasaki collaborated with Japanese koto master Kicho Takano and produced "Crystallization" in 1986.

Ryo Kawasaki has produced and performed on three albums by Brazilian singer and guitarist Camila Benson for this label.

In 2001, Ryo Kawasaki released the live studio album Reval, recorded in Tallinn, Estonia with Estonian musicians Toivo Unt on bass, Aivar Vassiljev on drums, and Kristi Keel on English horn.

Ryo Kawasaki released his third acoustic guitar solo album E in 2002.

Ryo Kawasaki appeared numerous times at Nomme Jazz Festival in Estonia while assisting the production of this jazz festival.

The album Live in Beirut which Ryo Kawasaki recorded with Lebanese organist, Arthur Satyan and drummer, Fouad Afra was released in 2011.

Overlapping the same time period, beginning in 2007, Ryo Kawasaki gradually developed his fourth acoustic guitar solo album Spain in Tallinn, Estonia, which was finally released in 2012.

In 2014, Ryo Kawasaki discovered a younger generation of Estonian musicians who inspired him to further develop a fusion, jazz-rock sound using his own compositions.

In spring 2016, Ryo Kawasaki formed a new quartet called Level 8, exclusively with Estonian musicians: Raun Juurikas, Kaarel Liiv and Eno Kollom.

Ryo Kawasaki died in Tallinn, Estonia in April 2020 at the age of 73.