In the beginning of May IKKI will tour the Netherlands with a special project featuring the famous jazz musician Aketa Shoji. More details coming up soon!
Aketagawa Shoji (Aketa) - Jazz pianist&composer, Ocarina maker&player
Born in 1950, Tokyo. Aketa studied electone first, then switched to piano. He started to play jazz while he was student in Rikkyo Univ. He has run Aketa-no-Mise (Aketa's place), a jazz cafe in Tokyo since 1974 and has organized the concerts of various musicians there almost every day. Jointly he has managed Aketa's disk, his own recording label which has released more than 100 albums. He is also the manager of Aketa Ocarina, the oldest and finest Japanese ocarina maker which his father established 80 years ago.
As a musician, Aketa has released more than 50 albums including many historic ones in Japanese Jazz history. He is still busy with traveling all over Japan and foreign countries to perform. He plays various kinds of music in various formats from solo to orchestra. As a composer, he has written more than 100 tunes. He is so good at writing and talking that he has written columns for magazines and has directed a program of FM Tokyo for 7 years.
Without any doubt, Aketa and his business take very important places in Japanese Jazz and Ocarina scene. This is his 7th tour in Europe.
He is also introduced in Jazz in the City, NPS TV program with Hans Mantel, broadcasted on November 9th, 2008.
http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=8260768
Aketa in Aketa-no-Mise