Website www.aki-takase.de Occupation(s) Musician, composer Name Aki Takase | Instruments Piano Years active 1978–present | |
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Role Jazz Pianist · aki-takase.de Music group Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra Similar People |
AKI TAKASE | JAPANIC - Monday in Budapest
Aki Takase (高瀬 アキ) (born January 26, 1948) is a Japanese jazz pianist and composer.
Contents
- AKI TAKASE JAPANIC Monday in Budapest
- Aki takase and silke eberhard at molde jazz festival
- Biography
- Discography
- As sidewoman
- Awards
- References

Aki takase and silke eberhard at molde jazz festival
Biography

Takase was born in Osaka and started to play piano at age 3. Raised in Tokyo, Takase studied classical piano at Toho Gakuen School of Music. Starting in 1978, she performed and recorded in the US. Her collaborators included with Lester Bowie, Sheila Jordan, David Liebman, and John Zorn. Her first Euopean appearance was in 1981 at the Berlin Jazz Festival in Germany. She instantly became one of the most sought after musicians, who was touring constantly the main international jazzfestivals.

For many years, she has been working with her husband Alexander von Schlippenbach, as well as with Eugene Chadbourne, Han Bennink, Evan Parker, Paul Lovens, Fred Frith and others, and in duets with Maria João, David Murray and Rudi Mahall.
In various projects, Takase has dealt with famous jazz musicians: Duke Ellington (1990), Thelonious Monk (1994), Eric Dolphy (1998), W.C. Handy (2002), Fats Waller (2004), and Ornette Coleman (2006).
In 2002, Takase recorded with writer Yoko Tawada. Takase had read some of Tawada's poems, and, as the writer reported, she "started composing melodies and settings for my texts. When we got together, I read my poems in the same way that I always read them out loud. Aki played, listened carefully to the poems, and started improvising." In later performances, Takase used more unconventional instruments when accompanying Tawada.
Since 1987, Takase has lived in Berlin.
Discography
An asterisk (*) after the year indicates that it is the year of release.
As sidewoman
Main sources: