Yagi Masao
Japanese pianist · Japan · On the map · Musicians · Lived 1932 to 1991 · aged 58 · Born 94 years ago today
Yagi Masao was a Japanese pianist who became devoted to American jazz very early in the wave of Japanese jazz enthusiasm. He became a member of the Cozy Quartet in 1956 after Toshiko Akiyoshi's departure, playing alongside Sadao Watanabe.
Yagi Masao is read about 18 times a day, in 6 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 23 June 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
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About this person
Robin Kelley, in his biography of Thelonious Monk, says that before his inaugural 1963 tour, "Monk's greatest champion in Japan was not a critic but a pianist named Yagi Masao. In 1959, the twenty-six-year-old pianist formed his own group featuring several Monk tunes in their repertoire, culminating in his debut LP, Masao Yagi Plays Thelonious Monk, recorded in the summer of 1960." Later in the 1960s he played with Charlie Mariano, Hidehiko Matsumoto, and Helen Merrill, and in the 1970s led his own ensembles. He was well-known as a composer and arranger, and wrote copiously for film soundtracks.
