is a Japanese jazz pianist, composer and arranger.
Early life Satoh was born in Tokyo on 6 October 1941."Masahiko Satoh". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 December 2014. His mother was Setsu and his father, who owned small businesses, was Yoshiaki Satoh. The house that his family moved into in 1944 contained a piano; Masahiko started playing it at the age of five. He began playing the piano professionally at the age of 17,Schofield, John (8 October 1991), "Pianist Infuses Jazz with Japanese Spirit", The Wall Street Journal, p. A20. "accompanying singers, magicians and strippers at a cabaret in the Ginza district".
Later life and career By 1959 Satoh was playing in Georgie Kawaguchi's band, together with alto saxophonist Sadao Watanabe and tenor saxophonist Akira Miyazawa. Satoh graduated from Keio University.Iwanami, Yozo; Sugiyama, Kazunori "Sato, Masahiko". The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2nd ed.). Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 24 February 2015. (Subscription required).
At the age of 26, Satoh moved to the United States to study at the Berklee College of Music. He stayed for two years, during which he read about composing and arranging. He earned money working in a food shop and playing the piano in a hotel. In 1968 he wrote the music for, and conducted, a series of pieces that were combined with dance and performed in New York."Library Programs Include Art Talks" (12 May 1968), The New York Times, p. 53. After returning to Japan, he recorded Palladium, his first album as leader, and appeared on a Helen Merrill album.
In his early career in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Satoh played in a free, percussive style. Satoh played at the 1971 Berlin Jazz Festival as part of a trio; he used a then-unusual ring modulator to alter the sound. Also in the early 1970s, he recorded with Attila Zoller, Karl Berger, and Albert Mangelsdorff. He wrote the psychedelic music for the 1973 anime film Belladonna of Sadness.Brenner, Robert (4 May 2016) "Movie Review: Belladonna of Sadness". Huffington Post.
Satoh has written arrangements for recordings led by, among others, Merrill, Kimiko Itoh, and Nancy Wilson. He also arranged for strings and quartet on Art Farmer's 1983 album Maiden Voyage.
In 1990 Satoh formed a large group, named Rantooga, that combined various forms of folk musics from around the world. In the early 1990s he composed music for a choir of 1,000 Buddhist monks. In the early 1990s he was reported as stating that 70% of his time was spent on arranging and composing, and the rest on playing and recording.
Compositions Satoh has composed for film, television and advertisements. For instance, he made the music of Kanashimi no Belladonna, a film in which the sound is very important; all the songs of this movie are performed by his wife, Chinatsu Nakayama.
Some of his compositions are influenced by the space in the works of composer Toru Takemitsu. Satoh has also composed for traditional Japanese instruments, including the shakuhachi and biwa.
Discography An asterisk (*) after the year indicates that it is the year of release.
As leader/co-leader Year recordedTitleLabelNotes1969*PalladiumExpressTrio, with Yasuo Arakawa (bass), Masahiko Togashi (drums)1970HolographyNippon ColumbiaSolo1970AstroramaLibertyCo-led with Jean-Luc Ponty. Quintet, with Ponty (keyboards, vocals), Yoshiaki Masuo (guitar), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Motohiko Hino (drums)1970Tohowith Yoshiko Goto (vocals), Kiyoshi Sugimoto (guitar), Kunimitsu Inaba (bass), Yasuo Arakawa (bass), Akira Ishikawa (drums)1970Piano Deluxe AlbumPolydorSolo1985AmorphismEpic SonyTrio, with Eddie Gomez (bass), Steve Gadd (drums)1985As If...Nippon ColumbiaTrio, with Eddie Gomez (bass), Steve Gadd (drums)1988Double ExposureEpic SonyTrio, with Eddie Gomez (bass), Steve Gadd (drums)1990Lunar CruiseEpic SonyDuo, with Midori Takada (percussion)1990 Randooga: Select Live Under The Sky'90Epic SonyLive at the Yomiuriland open theatre East in July 1990. Special guest: Wayne Shorter.2002–03Masahiko Plays MasahikoEweSolo piano2005VoyagesBAJCo-led with Joelle Leandre (bass); in concert2007NyozegamonOhraiSolo piano2007Rocking ChairBAJSolo piano2009Summer NightStudio SongsSolo piano2010AfterimagesBAJDuo, with Je Chun Park (percussion)2011Edo GigakuBAJTrio, with Shinichi Kotoh (bass), Hiroshi Murakami (drums)2011YatagarasuNot TwoCo-led with Peter Brötzmann (alto sax, tenor sax, tárogató, clarinet), Takeo Moriyama (drums); in concert2013Spring SnowPNLCo-led with Paal Nilssen-Love (drums, percussion); in concert2013Doushin GigakuBAJTrio, with Shinichi Kotoh (bass), Hiroshi Murakami (drums)2013SerendipBAJDuo, with Pradeep Ratnayake (sitar)2017Miku Hatsune sings Osamu Tezuka and Isao TomitaNippon ColumbiaA series of arrangements and remixes of Isao Tomita's compositions for Osamu Tezuka's works sung by Miku Hatsune
As sideman Year recordedLeaderTitleLabel1970SomethingNippon Columbia1971S'posinStoryville1973Four Compositions (1973)Denon1985Mezgo Epic2003SignatureRed ToucanShoemaker, Bill (April 2003) "Joelle Leandre/Masahiko Satoh/Yuji Takahashi" . JazzTimes.2011Long Story ShortTrost2012 and Paal Nilssen-LoveExtended DuosAudio Graphic
In popular culture A fictionalized version of Masahiko Satoh appears in Izumi Suzuki's short story "Hey, It's a Love Psychedelic!" as the narrator's love interest.
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