Ryo Kawasaki
Encyclopedia
Ryo Kawasaki (born February 25, 1947) chose a career as a jazz fusion
guitarist
after spending some years studying as a scientist. During the 60s he played with various Japanese jazz groups and also formed his own bands. In the early 70s he came to New York
where he settled and found steady work in very distinguished company, including the bands of Gil Evans
, Elvin Jones
, Chico Hamilton
, Ted Curson
and Joanne Brackeen
. In the mid-80s, Kawasaki drifted out of performing music in favour of writing music software programmes
for computers. He also produced several techno dance singles, forming his own company, Satellites Records, for their release.
In 1991 he returned to jazz and proved to be as skilled and adept as ever on albums recorded for a Japanese label
but marketed in the United States by his own company. Thanks to his long and wide experience, Kawasaki is able to switch with apparent ease between hard bop and jazz-rock. His playing is notable for its fluency and a sometimes hard-hitting style.
, Tokyo while Japan was still struggling and recovering from the early post World War II period. His father Torao Kawasaki was a renowned and honored Japanese diplomat
and worked for The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1919. Torao worked at several Japanese Consular and Embassies including San Francisco, Honolulu, Fengtian (then capital of Manchu
, now Shenyang
as city of China), Shanghai
and Beijing
while active as English teacher and translator for official diplomatic conferences. Ryo's mother Hiroko was also multilingual and spoke German, Russian, English, and Chinese aside from her native tongue Japanese. Hiroko grew up in Manchu
and then met Torao in Shanghai
. Torao was already 58 years of age when Ryo was born as an only child and these unique circumstances of Ryo's parents may already have hinted Ryo's later developments and wandering nature in international circuit as an artist.
Kawasaki's entire life has been marked by his innate inquisitiveness and powers of invention, both in music and science. While his mother encouraged him to take piano
and ballet
lessons, he has decided taking voice lessons and solfege
at age four and violin
lessons at five, and was reading music before elementary school. As a grade scholar, he began a lifelong fascination with astronomy
and electronics
(he built his own radios, TVs and audio
systems including amplifiers and speakers
as well as telescopes). When Ryo was 10-years-old, he bought a ukulele
and, at 14, he got his first acoustic guitar
. The album Midnight Blue by Kenny Burrell
and Stanley Turrentine
inspired Ryo to study jazz
.
In high school he began hanging out at coffee-houses that featured live music, formed a jazz ensemble and built an electric organ
that served as a primitive synthesizer
. By the time he was 16, his band was playing professionally in cabarets and strip joints. Although he continued to play music regularly, he attended Nippon University, majored in quantum physics and earned his Bachelor of Science
Degree. Although he has failed to prove his main interest and intuitive belief at that time, which is to prove that speed (acceleration
) of gravity must be much greater than speed of light
. He also did some teaching and contest judging at the Yamaha
musical instrument manufacturer's jazz school. Additionally he worked as a sound engineer for Japanese Victor Records and BGM
/TBS
Music where he learned mixing
and editing
.
when he was 22. Although he continued to perform with his jazz group, and at a young age was voted the #3 jazz guitarist
in a Japanese jazz poll
, Ryo spent most of the next three years working as studio musician on everything from advertising jingles to pop songs including countless radio and TV appearances. He recorded his second album for Toshiba
when he was 24. He played with B.B. King at a blues festival and also met George Benson
(they jammed for five hours at Ryo's house).
He also has recorded and worked with notable Japanese Jazz legends such as drummer Takeshi Inomata and Sound limits, saxophonist Jiro Inagaki and Soul Mates, saxophonist Keiichiro Ebisawa, saxophonist Seiichi Nakamura, pianist Masahiko Sato (佐藤允彦), saxophonist Hidehiko Matsumoto (松本英彦) and many others.
In 1973, Kawasaki arrived in New York. A friend picked him up at the airport and offered him an immediate gig with Joe Lee Wilson
playing at the Lincoln Center as part of the Newport Jazz Festival
. Soon Ryo was jamming regularly as part of the jazz community's "loft scene", and was invited to play with Bobbi Humphrey
. A few months later, Ryo walked up to his apartment and found a stranger waiting for him at his front door. It was Gil Evans
and he invited Ryo to join The Gil Evans Orchestra (David Sanborn
, Howard Johnson
, Tom Malone
, Lew Soloff
) which was then working on a jazz recording of Jimi Hendrix
compositions. Hendrix had dreamed up the concept with Evans, but Jimi died a week before the project started in 1970. Kawasaki also played on another Gil Evans album on RCA, There Comes a Time, with Tony Williams on drums
. Ryo rehearsed for a month with the third edition of Tony Williams' Lifetime with trio format with bassist Doug Rauch
working with Carlos Santana
at that time, but Tony left to spend a year in Europe before the band got the chance to perform in public.
Kawasaki followed in the footsteps of Jim Hall
, Gábor Szabó
and Larry Coryell
by becoming the guitarist
in the Chico Hamilton
Band, playing on a U.S. tour and working on various film scores that Chico recorded in Hollywood. Ryo made his debut U.S. album, Juice, in 1976 for RCA
and was one of the first Japanese jazz artists to sign with a major label in the States. Sidemen on the project included Tom Coster
(Carlos Santana
) and Sam Morrison (Miles Davis
). Kawasaki followed that recording with two more albums, Prism and Eight Mile Road, for the Japanese label
East Wind. He also joined the Elvin Jones
Band for a year-long tour of North and South America and Europe. By 1978, Kawasaki was tired of touring with other bands and returned to his own projects.
He explored Music of India
, learned ragas and recorded an Audio Fidelity album, Ring Toss, that combined eastern and western music. With Dave Liebman
he recorded Nature's Revenge for the German MPS
label
and they toured Europe. Ryo also toured European jazz festivals with Joanne Brackeen
as piano – guitar duo, and they recorded a pair of albums—AFT and Trinkets and Things—for Timeless Records in Holland. In Japan, Sony
's Open Sky label signed Ryo for three albums—Mirror of my Mind, Little Tree and Live—the latter, recorded in a Tokyo club, was one of the first all-digital recordings. Notable musicians participated on those recordings are : Michael Brecker
, Harvey Mason
, Leon Pendarvis, Azar Lawrence
, Anthony Jackson, Lincoln Goines
, Badal Roy
, Nana Vasconcelos
, Buddy Williams
, Larry Willis
and Alex Blake
to name a few. He also recorded an album called Sapporo for Swiss label America Sound in 1980 while touring Switzerland and Germany.
s from 1980 to 1983. He also formed the jazz-rock group The Golden Dragon and performed concerts regularly in the 80s. Fostex
developed the first quarter- inch-tape, eight-track recorder and asked Ryo to be the first artist to use it. He recorded the album Ryo in 1981 for Philips Records
and gained notoriety for creating all the music himself. He played only a nylon-string acoustic guitar with all his backing tracks created on his guitar synthesizer including the entire original orchestration
of Joaquin Rodrigo
's well known Concierto de Aranjuez
– Adagio movement. He did another similar recording, Lucky Lady, the next year.
When the Commodore 64
computer came out with a sound-chip in it, Kawasaki became fascinated by the possibilities. He learned to write computer programs and devoted 16-hours-a-day for two years creating four music software programs—Kawasaki Synthesizer
, Kawasaki Rhythm Rocker, Kawasaki Magical Musicquill, and Kawasaki MIDI Workstation—distributed by Sight and Sound Music. The first three programs were for school and home use, and the last one was for professional studios. He created an all-synthesized album, Images, in 1987; and the soundtrack, Pleasure Garden, in 1990 for an IMAX
film about the preservation of the Earth's endangered tropical rain forests.
From 1986 to 1990, Kawasaki produced a series of high-charting 12 inch dance
singles—"Electric World", "One Kiss", "No Expectations", "Say Baby I Love You", "Don't Tell Me", "Wildest Dreams", "Life is The Rhythm", "Pleasure Garden" and "Acid Heat"—that mixed free-style, house, acid house and ambient sounds. All of the production was done at his home studio, The Satellite Station, and the records were released on his own label, Satellites Records. His band and a dance troupe also performed extensively in New York dance clubs. In addition, for five years (1988 to 1993), Kawasaki was the New York producer and director of two Japanese national weekly music radio programs, "The Music Now" and "Idex Music Jam." In 1991. He also collaborated with Japanese koto
master Kicho Takano and produced "Crystallization" in 1986.
. Ryo's return to jazz, and his first album for the label, was the 1992 acoustic solo guitar album "Here, There and Everywhere
" (released on One Voice in Japan and on Satellites Records in the U.S.). Kawasaki has produced and performed on three albums by Brazilian singer and guitarist
Camila Benson for this label. Ryo's has continued to release a steady string of albums—the acoustic "My Reverie" (music from Bill Evans
, Debussy, Ravel and Gershwin), the electric jazz guitar-oriented "Love Within The Universe" (which received considerable airplay across the country), "Remixes Remixes Vol. 1" (also featuring Benson), "Sweet Life" and CD releases of "Mirror of my Mind" (a jazz ensemble recording with Harvey Mason
, Michael Brecker
, Anthony Jackson, Leon Pendarvis and vocalist Radha Shottam).
His another recent release "Cosmic Rhythm" in 1999 features British singer lyrisist Clare Foster
along with Ryo's current rhythm section Victor Jones
on Drums, Lincoln Goines
on Bass. The album also features David Kikoski
on Piano and Shunzo Ohno on Flugel Horn. All the songs were arranged and recorded by Ryo Kawasaki including original ten songs by Ryo himself.
During 1995–1999, three noteworthy hip hop
Super Stars Puff Daddy, Kool G Rap
and Keith Murray
have recorded Ryo's original composition "Bamboo Child" on their latest albums more than twenty years later from its original recording, proving that even Ryo's old recording would perfectly match with current Hip-Hop beats and moods.
Estonia
with Estonia's leading musicians Toivo Unt on Bass, Aivar Vassiljev on Drums and Kristi Keel on English horn.
His other projects include being a composer
, music director
as well as guitarist
for the jazz ballet "Still Point" for Estonia
n National Opera House
during 2000 -2002. This ballet is choreographed by Russell Adamson, a native Jamaica
n who resides in Helsinki
. Ryo also released his third acoustic guitar
solo album 'E' in 2002. From year 2000, Kawasaki has further expanded his live appearances into Russia and Baltic region
Jazz Festivals. His quartet has appeared at Rigas Ritmi Jazz Festival in Riga
/Latvia
, Pori
and other jazz festivals in Finland, Ukraine
, Lithuania
as well as Саранск (Saransk
) Jazz Ark Festival, Saransk is a Capital of Mordovia
Republic
located 630 km east from Moscow. He also appeared numerous times at Nõmme
Jazz Festival in Estonia
while assisting the production of this jazz festival.
Kawasaki's most recent projects during 2005–2008 include guitar trio project with American drummer
Brian Melvin and Estonian bassist
Toivo Unt under the name "Art of Trio" performing in variety of venues in Finland, Sweden and Baltic states
, and performing with Estonian vocalist
Jaanika Ventsel, while touring and recording in Japan for the duo project with bassist
Yoshio 'Chin' Suzuki (鈴木良雄), their new duo CD "Agana" was released in February 2007. In 2008, Ryo has formed jazz ensemble with Estonian pianist/keybordist Tõnu Naissoo. Also his 2nd duo CD with Yoshio 'Chin' Suzuki (鈴木良雄) and first CD with "Art of Trio" are completed and ready to be released during 2009 while his composition "Raisins" was included on the Grand Theft Auto IV
radio station Fusion FM in 2008.
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
after spending some years studying as a scientist. During the 60s he played with various Japanese jazz groups and also formed his own bands. In the early 70s he came to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
where he settled and found steady work in very distinguished company, including the bands of Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
, Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
, Chico Hamilton
Chico Hamilton
Chico Hamilton , is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.-Early life through 1960s:Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California. He had a fast-track musical education in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso...
, Ted Curson
Ted Curson
Theodore "Ted" Curson is a jazz trumpeter. He is perhaps best-known for recording and performing with Charles Mingus....
and Joanne Brackeen
Joanne Brackeen
Joanne Brackeen is an American jazz pianist and music educator.-Biography:She was born Joanne Grogan in Ventura, California. She attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, but devoted herself to jazz by imitating Frankie Carle albums...
. In the mid-80s, Kawasaki drifted out of performing music in favour of writing music software programmes
Computer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
for computers. He also produced several techno dance singles, forming his own company, Satellites Records, for their release.
In 1991 he returned to jazz and proved to be as skilled and adept as ever on albums recorded for a Japanese label
Label
A label is a piece of paper, polymer, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or article, on which is printed a legend, information concerning the product, addresses, etc. A label may also be printed directly on the container or article....
but marketed in the United States by his own company. Thanks to his long and wide experience, Kawasaki is able to switch with apparent ease between hard bop and jazz-rock. His playing is notable for its fluency and a sometimes hard-hitting style.
Early life (1947–1968)
Ryo Kawasaki was born in KōenjiKoenji
is an area of Tokyo in Suginami ward, west of Shinjuku. The neighborhood is named after some old temples in the area.Kōenji is primarily a bedroom community with easy access to Shinjuku and Tokyo Stations. It was largely unaffected by the 1980s building boom and therefore many of the houses and...
, Tokyo while Japan was still struggling and recovering from the early post World War II period. His father Torao Kawasaki was a renowned and honored Japanese diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
and worked for The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1919. Torao worked at several Japanese Consular and Embassies including San Francisco, Honolulu, Fengtian (then capital of Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
, now Shenyang
Shenyang
Shenyang , or Mukden , is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing or Fengtianfu...
as city of China), Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
and Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
while active as English teacher and translator for official diplomatic conferences. Ryo's mother Hiroko was also multilingual and spoke German, Russian, English, and Chinese aside from her native tongue Japanese. Hiroko grew up in Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
and then met Torao in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. Torao was already 58 years of age when Ryo was born as an only child and these unique circumstances of Ryo's parents may already have hinted Ryo's later developments and wandering nature in international circuit as an artist.
Kawasaki's entire life has been marked by his innate inquisitiveness and powers of invention, both in music and science. While his mother encouraged him to take piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
lessons, he has decided taking voice lessons and solfege
Solfege
In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
at age four and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
lessons at five, and was reading music before elementary school. As a grade scholar, he began a lifelong fascination with astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
(he built his own radios, TVs and audio
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
systems including amplifiers and speakers
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
as well as telescopes). When Ryo was 10-years-old, he bought a ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
and, at 14, he got his first acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
. The album Midnight Blue by Kenny Burrell
Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...
and Stanley Turrentine
Stanley Turrentine
Stanley William Turrentine, also known as "Mr. T" or "The Sugar Man", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Turrentine was born in Pittsburgh's Hill District into a musical family...
inspired Ryo to study jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
.
In high school he began hanging out at coffee-houses that featured live music, formed a jazz ensemble and built an electric organ
Electric organ
In biology, the electric organ is an organ common to all electric fish used for the purposes of creating an electric field. The electric organ is derived from modified nerve or muscle tissue...
that served as a primitive synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
. By the time he was 16, his band was playing professionally in cabarets and strip joints. Although he continued to play music regularly, he attended Nippon University, majored in quantum physics and earned his Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
Degree. Although he has failed to prove his main interest and intuitive belief at that time, which is to prove that speed (acceleration
Acceleration
In physics, acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with time. In one dimension, acceleration is the rate at which something speeds up or slows down. However, since velocity is a vector, acceleration describes the rate of change of both the magnitude and the direction of velocity. ...
) of gravity must be much greater than speed of light
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
. He also did some teaching and contest judging at the Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
musical instrument manufacturer's jazz school. Additionally he worked as a sound engineer for Japanese Victor Records and BGM
BGM
BGM can mean:*Greater Binghamton Airport serving Binghamton, New York *Background music*an abbreviation for the former Bell Globemedia, now Bell Media*BGM , Japanese band YMO's album*Bonnier Gazell Music...
/TBS
Tokyo Broadcasting System
, TBS Holdings, Inc. or TBSHD, is a stockholding company in Tokyo, Japan. It is a parent company of a television network named and radio network named ....
Music where he learned mixing
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
and editing
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
.
Early career in Japan (1969–1973)
He recorded his first solo album for Polydor RecordsPolydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
when he was 22. Although he continued to perform with his jazz group, and at a young age was voted the #3 jazz guitarist
Jazz guitarist
Jazz guitarists are guitar players who play jazz music on the guitar using an approach to playing chords, melodies, and improvised solo lines which is called jazz guitar playing. The guitar has fulfilled the roles of accompanist and soloist in small and large ensembles and also as an unaccompanied...
in a Japanese jazz poll
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
, Ryo spent most of the next three years working as studio musician on everything from advertising jingles to pop songs including countless radio and TV appearances. He recorded his second album for Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
when he was 24. He played with B.B. King at a blues festival and also met George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
(they jammed for five hours at Ryo's house).
He also has recorded and worked with notable Japanese Jazz legends such as drummer Takeshi Inomata and Sound limits, saxophonist Jiro Inagaki and Soul Mates, saxophonist Keiichiro Ebisawa, saxophonist Seiichi Nakamura, pianist Masahiko Sato (佐藤允彦), saxophonist Hidehiko Matsumoto (松本英彦) and many others.
1973–1979 (as guitarist)
Joe Lee Wilson
Joe Lee Wilson was an American gospel-influenced jazz singer, originally from Bristow, Oklahoma. His voice is best recognized from several Archie Shepp albums recorded for Impulse! Records.-Biography:...
playing at the Lincoln Center as part of the Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
. Soon Ryo was jamming regularly as part of the jazz community's "loft scene", and was invited to play with Bobbi Humphrey
Bobbi Humphrey
Barbara Ann Humphrey is an American jazz flautist and singer who plays fusion, jazz-funk and soul-jazz styles. Bobbi Humphrey has performed for audiences around the world....
. A few months later, Ryo walked up to his apartment and found a stranger waiting for him at his front door. It was Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
and he invited Ryo to join The Gil Evans Orchestra (David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
, Howard Johnson
Howard Johnson (jazz musician)
Howard Lewis Johnson in Montgomery, Alabama, is an American jazz musician known mainly for his work on tuba and baritone saxophone, although he also plays the bass clarinet, trumpet and other reed instruments....
, Tom Malone
Tom Malone (musician)
Tom "Bones" Malone is an American jazz musician. As his nickname implies, he specializes on the trombone, but also plays trumpet, tuba, tenor sax, baritone sax, flutes, piccolo, and other instruments....
, Lew Soloff
Lew Soloff
Lew Soloff is a jazz trumpeter, composer and actor. He studied trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School. He is likely best known for his work with Blood, Sweat & Tears from 1968 to 1973...
) which was then working on a jazz recording of Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
compositions. Hendrix had dreamed up the concept with Evans, but Jimi died a week before the project started in 1970. Kawasaki also played on another Gil Evans album on RCA, There Comes a Time, with Tony Williams on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
. Ryo rehearsed for a month with the third edition of Tony Williams' Lifetime with trio format with bassist Doug Rauch
Doug Rauch
Douglas Haywood Rauch was an American bassist most famous for his work with Carlos Santana during his jazz fusion period in the early 1970s.-Early years:...
working with Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
at that time, but Tony left to spend a year in Europe before the band got the chance to perform in public.
Kawasaki followed in the footsteps of Jim Hall
Jim Hall (musician)
James Stanley Hall is an American jazz guitarist.-Biography:Educated at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Hall moved to Los Angeles where he began to attract national, and then international, attention in the late 1950s...
, Gábor Szabó
Gábor Szabó
Gábor Szabó was a Hungarian jazz guitarist, famous for mixing jazz, pop-rock and his native Hungarian music.-Biography:...
and Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell is an American jazz fusion guitarist.-Biography:Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas. He graduated from Richland High School, in Richland, Washington, where he played in local bands The Jailers, The Rumblers, The Royals, and The Flames. He also played with The Checkers from nearby...
by becoming the guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
in the Chico Hamilton
Chico Hamilton
Chico Hamilton , is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.-Early life through 1960s:Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California. He had a fast-track musical education in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso...
Band, playing on a U.S. tour and working on various film scores that Chico recorded in Hollywood. Ryo made his debut U.S. album, Juice, in 1976 for RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
and was one of the first Japanese jazz artists to sign with a major label in the States. Sidemen on the project included Tom Coster
Tom Coster
Tom Coster is an American keyboardist and composer. Detroit-born and San Francisco-raised, Coster played piano and accordion as a youth, continuing his studies through college and a productive five-year stint as a musician in the U.S...
(Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
) and Sam Morrison (Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
). Kawasaki followed that recording with two more albums, Prism and Eight Mile Road, for the Japanese label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
East Wind. He also joined the Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
Band for a year-long tour of North and South America and Europe. By 1978, Kawasaki was tired of touring with other bands and returned to his own projects.
He explored Music of India
Music of India
The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, classical music and R&B. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and developed over several eras. It remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as...
, learned ragas and recorded an Audio Fidelity album, Ring Toss, that combined eastern and western music. With Dave Liebman
Dave Liebman
Dave Liebman is an American saxophonist and flautist. In June 2010, he received a NEA Jazz Masters lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts.-Biography:...
he recorded Nature's Revenge for the German MPS
MPS Records
MPS Records was a German jazz record label founded in 1968. MPS stands for "Musik Produktion Schwarzwald" .-History:...
label
Label
A label is a piece of paper, polymer, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or article, on which is printed a legend, information concerning the product, addresses, etc. A label may also be printed directly on the container or article....
and they toured Europe. Ryo also toured European jazz festivals with Joanne Brackeen
Joanne Brackeen
Joanne Brackeen is an American jazz pianist and music educator.-Biography:She was born Joanne Grogan in Ventura, California. She attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, but devoted herself to jazz by imitating Frankie Carle albums...
as piano – guitar duo, and they recorded a pair of albums—AFT and Trinkets and Things—for Timeless Records in Holland. In Japan, Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
's Open Sky label signed Ryo for three albums—Mirror of my Mind, Little Tree and Live—the latter, recorded in a Tokyo club, was one of the first all-digital recordings. Notable musicians participated on those recordings are : Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
, Harvey Mason
Harvey Mason
Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James, The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz...
, Leon Pendarvis, Azar Lawrence
Azar Lawrence
Azar Lawrence is an American jazz saxophonist, known for his contributions as sideman to McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw. Lawrence was the tenor saxophonist Tyner used following John Coltrane's death....
, Anthony Jackson, Lincoln Goines
Lincoln Goines
Lincoln Goines is a double bassist and bass guitarist originally from Oakland, California.A mainstay of the New York City jazz/Latin/studio scene since the early 1980s and noted for his versatility and fluid style, Goines' extensive career includes performance credits as sideman to: Sonny Rollins,...
, Badal Roy
Badal Roy
Badal Roy is a tabla player, percussionist, and recording artist known for his work in jazz, world music, and experimental music.-Biography:...
, Nana Vasconcelos
Naná Vasconcelos
Naná Vasconcelos is a Brazilian Latin jazz percussionist, vocalist and berimbau player, most notable for his works with Pat Metheny, Don Cherry, Egberto Gismonti, and Gato Barbieri....
, Buddy Williams
Buddy Williams
Harold "Buddy" Williams was an Australian country music singer and songwriter. He was the first Australian born to record country music in Australia, three years after the New Zealand born Tex Morton had made his first recording session here in Australia...
, Larry Willis
Larry Willis
Lawrence Elliott Willis is an American jazz pianist and composer. He has performed in a wide range of styles, including jazz fusion rock music, Bebop and Avant-Garde...
and Alex Blake
Alex Blake
Alex Blake is a post bop jazz double-bassist who began his career with Sun Ra in his band Arkestra. A live performance compilation was released by Bubble Core Records in 2000 titled Now Is the Time: Live at the Knitting Factory...
to name a few. He also recorded an album called Sapporo for Swiss label America Sound in 1980 while touring Switzerland and Germany.
1979–1990 (as inventor and programmer)
Kawasaki invented his own guitar synthesizer in 1979, and used it to perform numerous solo shows at planetariumPlanetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
s from 1980 to 1983. He also formed the jazz-rock group The Golden Dragon and performed concerts regularly in the 80s. Fostex
Fostex
Fostex is a Japanese manufacturer that is one of the largest transducer and OEM speaker makers in the world, founded in July 1973 by Foster Electric Co. Ltd.-Company history:Fostex , founded in July 1973 by Foster Electric Co...
developed the first quarter- inch-tape, eight-track recorder and asked Ryo to be the first artist to use it. He recorded the album Ryo in 1981 for Philips Records
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...
and gained notoriety for creating all the music himself. He played only a nylon-string acoustic guitar with all his backing tracks created on his guitar synthesizer including the entire original orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
of Joaquin Rodrigo
Joaquín Rodrigo
Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez , commonly known as Joaquín Rodrigo, was a composer of classical music and a virtuoso pianist. Despite being nearly blind from an early age, he achieved great success...
's well known Concierto de Aranjuez
Concierto de Aranjuez
The Concierto de Aranjuez is a composition for classical guitar and orchestra by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is probably Rodrigo's best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the twentieth century. ...
– Adagio movement. He did another similar recording, Lucky Lady, the next year.
When the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
computer came out with a sound-chip in it, Kawasaki became fascinated by the possibilities. He learned to write computer programs and devoted 16-hours-a-day for two years creating four music software programs—Kawasaki Synthesizer
Kawasaki Synthesizer
The Kawasaki Synthesizer is a musical software tool for the Commodore 64 created in 1983 by Japanese jazz musician, Ryo Kawasaki. The first of four music programs created by Kawasaki, Kawasaki Synthesizer was followed by Kawasaki Rhythm Rocker in 1985, and then Kawasaki Magical Musicquill in 1985...
, Kawasaki Rhythm Rocker, Kawasaki Magical Musicquill, and Kawasaki MIDI Workstation—distributed by Sight and Sound Music. The first three programs were for school and home use, and the last one was for professional studios. He created an all-synthesized album, Images, in 1987; and the soundtrack, Pleasure Garden, in 1990 for an IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
film about the preservation of the Earth's endangered tropical rain forests.
From 1986 to 1990, Kawasaki produced a series of high-charting 12 inch dance
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
singles—"Electric World", "One Kiss", "No Expectations", "Say Baby I Love You", "Don't Tell Me", "Wildest Dreams", "Life is The Rhythm", "Pleasure Garden" and "Acid Heat"—that mixed free-style, house, acid house and ambient sounds. All of the production was done at his home studio, The Satellite Station, and the records were released on his own label, Satellites Records. His band and a dance troupe also performed extensively in New York dance clubs. In addition, for five years (1988 to 1993), Kawasaki was the New York producer and director of two Japanese national weekly music radio programs, "The Music Now" and "Idex Music Jam." In 1991. He also collaborated with Japanese koto
Koto (musical instrument)
The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...
master Kicho Takano and produced "Crystallization" in 1986.
1991–2000 (return to jazz guitarist)
Kawasaki's musical direction took another dramatic turn when he was signed by the new jazz and adult contemporary Japanese label One Voice as an artist and record producerRecord producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. Ryo's return to jazz, and his first album for the label, was the 1992 acoustic solo guitar album "Here, There and Everywhere
Here, There and Everywhere
"Here, There and Everywhere" is a song written primarily by Paul McCartney , recorded for The Beatles 1966 album Revolver. In his biography Many Years From Now, McCartney said the song is one of his favourites. Beatles' producer George Martin has also mentioned it as one of his favourite McCartney...
" (released on One Voice in Japan and on Satellites Records in the U.S.). Kawasaki has produced and performed on three albums by Brazilian singer and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Camila Benson for this label. Ryo's has continued to release a steady string of albums—the acoustic "My Reverie" (music from Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
, Debussy, Ravel and Gershwin), the electric jazz guitar-oriented "Love Within The Universe" (which received considerable airplay across the country), "Remixes Remixes Vol. 1" (also featuring Benson), "Sweet Life" and CD releases of "Mirror of my Mind" (a jazz ensemble recording with Harvey Mason
Harvey Mason
Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James, The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz...
, Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
, Anthony Jackson, Leon Pendarvis and vocalist Radha Shottam).
His another recent release "Cosmic Rhythm" in 1999 features British singer lyrisist Clare Foster
Clare Foster
Clare Foster is a British actress who trained at Masters Performing Arts College. She has played numerous roles both on and off the West End, and has also been seen as a regular, PC Millie Brown in the ITV series 'The Bill'...
along with Ryo's current rhythm section Victor Jones
Victor Jones
Victor Purnell Jones is a former professional American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Detroit Lions, He played college football at Virginia Tech and was drafted in the twelfth round of the 1988 NFL Draft....
on Drums, Lincoln Goines
Lincoln Goines
Lincoln Goines is a double bassist and bass guitarist originally from Oakland, California.A mainstay of the New York City jazz/Latin/studio scene since the early 1980s and noted for his versatility and fluid style, Goines' extensive career includes performance credits as sideman to: Sonny Rollins,...
on Bass. The album also features David Kikoski
David Kikoski
Dave Kikoski is an exceptional American jazz pianist and keyboardist.Kikoski learned piano from his father and played with him in bars as a teenager...
on Piano and Shunzo Ohno on Flugel Horn. All the songs were arranged and recorded by Ryo Kawasaki including original ten songs by Ryo himself.
During 1995–1999, three noteworthy hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
Super Stars Puff Daddy, Kool G Rap
Kool G Rap
Nathaniel Thomas Wilson , better known by his stage names Kool G Rap , Kool G. Rap, and Giancana , is an American rapper, from the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as a member of the Juice Crew...
and Keith Murray
Keith Murray (rapper)
Keith Murray is an American rapper and a member of the rap trio Def Squad, which includes fellow rappers Redman and Erick Sermon.-Music career:...
have recorded Ryo's original composition "Bamboo Child" on their latest albums more than twenty years later from its original recording, proving that even Ryo's old recording would perfectly match with current Hip-Hop beats and moods.
New developments in Estonia and beyond (2000 – present)
Ryo has released live studio trio album "Reval" in 2001, recorded in TallinnTallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
with Estonia's leading musicians Toivo Unt on Bass, Aivar Vassiljev on Drums and Kristi Keel on English horn.
His other projects include being a composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, music director
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...
as well as guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
for the jazz ballet "Still Point" for Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n National Opera House
Opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
during 2000 -2002. This ballet is choreographed by Russell Adamson, a native Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n who resides in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
. Ryo also released his third acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
solo album 'E' in 2002. From year 2000, Kawasaki has further expanded his live appearances into Russia and Baltic region
Baltic region
The terms Baltic region, Baltic Rim countries, and Baltic Rim refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea.- Etymology :...
Jazz Festivals. His quartet has appeared at Rigas Ritmi Jazz Festival in Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
/Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, Pori
Pori
Pori is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäenjoki river, which is the largest in Finland. Pori is the most important town in the Satakunta region....
and other jazz festivals in Finland, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
as well as Саранск (Saransk
Saransk
Saransk is a city in central European Russia and the capital of the Republic of Mordovia, as well as its financial and economic center. It is located in the Volga basin at the confluence of the Saranka and Insar Rivers, about east of Moscow...
) Jazz Ark Festival, Saransk is a Capital of Mordovia
Mordovia
The Republic of Mordovia , also known as Mordvinia, is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the city of Saransk. Population: -Geography:The republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia...
Republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
located 630 km east from Moscow. He also appeared numerous times at Nõmme
Nõmme
Nõmme is one of the 8 administrative districts of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 38,168 and covers an area of , population density is...
Jazz Festival in Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
while assisting the production of this jazz festival.
Kawasaki's most recent projects during 2005–2008 include guitar trio project with American drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Brian Melvin and Estonian bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Toivo Unt under the name "Art of Trio" performing in variety of venues in Finland, Sweden and Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
, and performing with Estonian vocalist
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
Jaanika Ventsel, while touring and recording in Japan for the duo project with bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Yoshio 'Chin' Suzuki (鈴木良雄), their new duo CD "Agana" was released in February 2007. In 2008, Ryo has formed jazz ensemble with Estonian pianist/keybordist Tõnu Naissoo. Also his 2nd duo CD with Yoshio 'Chin' Suzuki (鈴木良雄) and first CD with "Art of Trio" are completed and ready to be released during 2009 while his composition "Raisins" was included on the Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 open world action video game published by Rockstar Games, and developed by British games developer Rockstar North. It has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system...
radio station Fusion FM in 2008.
As leader
- Easy Listening Jazz Guitar (1970)
- Gut's the Guitar (1972)
- Prism (1975)
- Eight Mile Road (1976)
- Juice (1976)
- Ring Toss (1977)
- Nature's Revenge (1978)
- Mirror of My Mind (1979)
- Little Tree (1980)
- Live (1980)
- Sapporo (1980)
- Ryo (1982)
- Lucky Lady (1983)
- Images (1987)
- Here, There and Everywhere (1992)
- My ReverieMy Reverie"My Reverie" is a 1938 popular song with lyrics by Larry Clinton. Its melody is based on the 1890 piano piece Rêverie by the French classical composer Claude Debussy. A 1938 recording of the song by Clinton and his band with Bea Wain as the vocalist was a hit, reaching the top of the Billboard...
(1993) - Love Within the Universe (1994)
- Remixes, remixes Vol.1. (1995)
- Sweet Life (1996)
- Cosmic Rhythm (1999)
- Reval (2001)
- E (2002)
- Agana (2007)
- Late Night Willie (2009)
- Tribute to Keith Jarrett (2010)
- Live in Beirut (2011)
As sideman
- Head-Rock / Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media (1970)
- Sound of Sound Limited / Takeshi Inomata (1970)
- Something / Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media Feat.Steve Marcus (1971)
- Rock Guitar Battle '71 / Various artists (1971)
- Guitar Workshop / Various artists (1971)
- Chigaihoken / Ushio Sakai (1973)
- Plays Jimi Hendrix / Gil EvansGil EvansGil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
(1975) - Mobius / Cedar WaltonCedar WaltonCedar Anthony Walton, Junior is an American hard bop jazz pianist.-Biography:Walton grew up in Dallas, Texas. His mother was an aspiring concert pianist, and was Walton's initial teacher. She also took him to jazz performances around Dallas...
(1975) - There Comes a Time / Gil EvansGil EvansGil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
(1976) - Tarika Blue vol.1 / Tarika Blue (1976)
- What Would It Be Without You / Joe Lee WilsonJoe Lee WilsonJoe Lee Wilson was an American gospel-influenced jazz singer, originally from Bristow, Oklahoma. His voice is best recognized from several Archie Shepp albums recorded for Impulse! Records.-Biography:...
(1976) - Tokyo Concert / Gil EvansGil EvansGil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
(1976) - Tarika Blue vol.2 / Tarika Blue (1977)
- Main Force / Elvin JonesElvin JonesElvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
(1977) - Time Capsule / Elvin JonesElvin JonesElvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
(1977) - Aft / JoAnne Brackeen (1978)
-
' Round About Midnight / Ted CursonTed CursonTheodore "Ted" Curson is a jazz trumpeter. He is perhaps best-known for recording and performing with Charles Mingus....
(1978) - Trinkets and Things / JoAnne Brackeen (1979)
- Pleasure / Shigeharu Mukai (1979)
- All-In All-Out / Masahiko Sato – 佐藤允彦 (1979)
- I Heard Mingus / Ted CursonTed CursonTheodore "Ted" Curson is a jazz trumpeter. He is perhaps best-known for recording and performing with Charles Mingus....
(1980) - Manhattan Skyline / Hiroki Miyano (1980)
- Impressions of Charles Mingus / Teo MaceroTeo MaceroTeo Macero , born Attilio Joseph Macero, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer...
(1983) - Crystallization (夕日とハドソン) / 高野基長 (1986)
- Christmas Songs / Carolling Carollers (1988)
- New York String Quartet vol.1 / New York String Quartet (1988)
- New York String Quartet vol. 2 / New York String Quartet (1989)
- Wave / Camila Benson (1995)
- Classic Jazz Funk, Vol. 6: The Definitive Jap-Jazz Mastercuts / Various artists (1995)
- Dusty FingersDusty FingersDusty Fingers is the name of a series of compilation records of songs that are widely admired as breakbeats collected by Bronx, NY DJ and collector Danny Dann the Beat Mann. Some of the songs featured contain "open breaks" which are solo drum passages which enable DJs to easily transition into them...
Volume 1 / Various artists (1995) - Memories / Camila Benson (1996)
- Trinkets and Things / Cosmic Village (1997)
- Desafinado / Camila Benson (1997)
- I Will / John ClarkJohn Clark (musician)John Clark is an American jazz horn player and composer.-Biography:John Clark was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Rochester, New York. His father was William H. Clark, a professor of German and dean of education at the University of Rochester, and his mother was Margaret Garmey. He and his four...
(1997) - RCA Victor 80th Anniversary, Vol. 6: 970-1979 / Various artists (1997)
- Battle of the Bands: Evans Vs. Mingus / Various artists (1998)
- Super Guitarists / Various artists (1999)
- Jazz Spectrum: Real Jazz for Real People, Vol. 2 / Various artists (1999)
- Three Flutes Up / Chip Shelton (1999)
- More What Flutes 4 / Chip Shelton (2001)
- Different Dreams 2 / Various artists – Estonian Jazz (2001)
- Impressions of Miles Davis / Teo MaceroTeo MaceroTeo Macero , born Attilio Joseph Macero, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer...
(2001)
Singles
- Electric World (1987)
- One Kiss (1988)
- No Expectations (1988)
- Say Baby I Love You (1988)
- Wildest Dreams (1989)
- Life Is the Rhythm (1989)
- Pleasure Garden (1990)
Software
- Kawasaki SynthesizerKawasaki SynthesizerThe Kawasaki Synthesizer is a musical software tool for the Commodore 64 created in 1983 by Japanese jazz musician, Ryo Kawasaki. The first of four music programs created by Kawasaki, Kawasaki Synthesizer was followed by Kawasaki Rhythm Rocker in 1985, and then Kawasaki Magical Musicquill in 1985...
(1984) - Kawasaki Rhythm Rocker (1984)
- Kawasaki Magical Musicquill (1985)
- Kawasaki Midi Workstation (1986)
Video and film
- Different Drummer with Elvin Jones (1979)
- Jazz in Exile Documentary (1982)