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Toshiyuki Sekine plays the standard tunes he dedicates to "ten people who changed his life"!
After twelve years since he released "Mai - Dancing", Toshiyuki Sekine, a Japanese jazz pianist, has finally released his long-waited trio album. With Hiroshi Yoshino on bass and Takayuki Koizumi on drums, he plays the well-known standard tunes on the piano and Rhodes with fresh feelings and cheerful enthusiasm: the album includes ten in total, seven standards, one of his favorites by Burt Bacharach (T8) and two of his original tunes (T6 and T10), all dedicated to "ten people who changed his life".
The album is jazz 101 a wide variety of music lovers can enjoy. To make it happen, Sekine chose Fazioli as his piano, which is recently loved by many pianists better than traditional brands, and invited Mr. Neeraj Khajanchi as the recording, mixing and mastering engineer.
In his own words: "At the crossroads of my life as a musician, there were ten people who had a great influence on me, which way to go and what to do next. I would like to dedicate these tunes to them with my sincere gratitude. The last tune, "Waseda Street Theme", was originally wrote as an instrumental tune but this time, I wrote a lyric and sang it myself, looking back upon my life to "dedicate" it to all who will listen to my music.
Toshiyuki Sekine was born in Tokyo, Japan on January 10, 1955. One day in his high school days, he bought a record of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 and was captivated by their sound of music. Then followed The Doors, Wes Montgomery, John Coltrane, etc. and his exploration of the world of bossa nova, rock and jazz music began. At age 16, his enthusiasm for music finally made him learn to play the jazz piano all by himself, listening to and studying the performances of Sergio Mendes, Bud Powell, Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Phineas Newborn, Jr., Herbie Hancock, Joao Gilberto, et.In 1974, Sekine began his professinal career as a jazz pianist. He performed or recorded with Takashi Mizuhashi, Yoshio Otomo, Osamu Kawakami, Takao Uematsu, Toshio Ohsumi, Mabumi Yamaguchi, O. "Jess"Kurata, Masayuki Ise. Invited by George Ohtsuka as a keyboardist of his group, he played with Miroslav Vitous and Nana Vasconcelos in Ohtsuka's 1980 album Maracaibo. He also formed his own trio group and in 1978 released Love for Sale, the first album in his name where Osamu Kawakami played the bass and Hideo Yamaki on drums. He frequently appeared at the jazz spots of downtown Tokyo. In1985, Sekine encountered Idaki Shin (Tadamitsu Saito) and was shocked at his improvisation performance which gives healing to people and revives in them a dynamic energy to live. In 1988, he quit from his own musical career and began working for Idaki Shin to promote his concerts and musical events taking place in Japan and overseas. In 1998, however, he appeared in Idaki Shin's private concert and played the piano with him. This experience made him rediscover what he had long been wanting to express by music and in 2002 started live performances again after 13 years absence and now he's one of the most frequent pianist on the Tokyo jazz scene
Mugigi Records