Piano | b. 1948

Tsuyoshi Yamamoto was born on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture on March 23, 1948, started piano in elementary school, heard the Jazz Messengers in high school and turned toward jazz, and made his professional debut in 1967 accompanying pop singer Mickey Curtis on a European tour during his time at Nihon University. By 1974 he had become house pianist at the Misty jazz club in Tokyo, a role that coincided with an extraordinarily productive recording period: Three Blind Mice released six Yamamoto-led or Yamamoto-accompanied albums in 1974, including “Midnight Sugar,” his debut as leader featuring his own composition of the same name, and “Misty,” both of which became cornerstone records of the TBM catalogue and among the most sought-after Japanese jazz pressings internationally. He appeared on Isao Suzuki’s TBM recordings, including “Black Orpheus” (1976), spent a period in New York performing with Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae, Elvin Jones, Sam Jones, Billy Higgins and Sonny Stitt, and performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1979. His “Life” (East Wind, 1976) was recorded in New York with Sam Jones on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. Over a fifty-year career he has recorded more than fifty albums across TBM, East Wind, First Impression Music and other labels, continuing to perform and record in trio settings.