Piano | 1948-2016

Ryo Fukui was born on June 1, 1948 in Biratori, Hokkaido, started on accordion at eighteen, and taught himself piano from the age of twenty-two after moving to Tokyo, absorbing the hard bop and modal jazz tradition entirely through listening rather than formal instruction. His debut album "Scenery" (Nadja, 1976), recorded in Sapporo with his brother Yoshinori on drums and Satoshi Denpo on bass, is the most celebrated Japanese jazz album of its era: a red-jacketed piano trio record whose dense left-hand voicings drew comparisons to McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans, and whose reputation grew slowly during Fukui's lifetime before exploding globally after his death through internet sharing and reissues. He remained in Sapporo throughout his career, playing regularly at the Slowboat jazz club which became the centre of his musical world, and in 1992 deepened his bebop vocabulary through sustained mentorship with American pianist Barry Harris. "Mellow Dream" (Trio Records, 1977), a live recording from Yamaha Hall with the same trio, followed "Scenery" the following year. Later recordings including "My Favorite Tune" (1994) and "Ryo Fukui in New York" (1999) documented a mature musician who had found his own sustained direction and held to it. Fukui died in Sapporo on March 15, 2016, aged 67. His widow Yasuko continues to run the Slowboat.