Tsuyoshi Yamamoto

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Tsuyoshi Yamamoto is a Japanese jazz pianist and composer, born in 1948. He was largely self-taught, although he did have piano lessons as a child. He studied at Nihon University and was already playing professionally while a student. At first he accompanied the pop singer Micky Curtis, with whom he toured Europe in 1967.

Music and breakthrough

In 1974 he became house pianist at Misty, a jazz club in Tokyo. That same year he made his first record as a leader. In the late 1970s he played at major international festivals. For a year he lived in New York, where he performed with, among others, Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae, Sam Jones, Billy Higgins, Elvin Jones and Sonny Stitt. Between 1974 and 2015 he played on sixty-six recording sessions.

Influence

Of his 2008 album What a Wonderful Trio!, one reviewer noted that he likes to seek out the very highest regions of the keyboard, with great pleasure. Later he also recorded Life (1976), Star Dust (1997), Autumn in Seattle (2001) and Night at Body and Soul (2015), among others.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1976Life
• 1981SAMBA CLUB
• 1989Ryu's Bar 気ままにいい夜
• 1997Star Dust
• 2001Autumn in Seattle
• 2005Bass Club
• 2015Night at Body and Soul
• 2020Loving Touch