Piano | b. 1942

Yosuke Yamashita built his reputation on an approach to the piano that treated it as a percussion instrument first and a harmonic vehicle second. Born in Tokyo on 26 February 1942, he started on violin, switched to piano as a teenager, studied classical composition at the Kunitachi College of Music from 1962 to 1967, and spent his early career moving between Sadao Watanabe's band and the informal nightly sessions at a club called Gin-Paris with Terumasa Hino and Masabumi Kikuchi. He formed his trio in 1969, settled on the lineup of alto saxophonist Akira Sakata and drummer Takeo Moriyama by 1972, and spent the next several years developing one of the most physically committed free jazz practices in Japanese music, no bassist, no safety net, and a physical relationship to the keyboard closer to Cecil Taylor than to the Bill Evans influence that had defined his earlier playing. The first European tour came in 1974, and performances at Montreux and the Heidelberger Jazztage brought the trio international attention. "Chiasma" (MPS, 1976), recorded live in Heidelberg in June 1975, documents that lineup near the end of its run. In 1979 Yamashita made his American debut at the Newport Jazz Festival and recorded with members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. He later formed a New York Trio with Cecil McBee and Pheeroan akLaff. He remains active as a performer and educator.