Kaoru Abe

Kaoru Abe ( Japanese 阿部薫 , Abe Kaoru ; born May 3, 1949 in Kawasaki ; † September 9, 1978 ) was a Japanese jazz pianist, guitarist and avant-garde alto saxophonist of free jazz , which is often said to have had the most aggressive approach ever to have.

At a young age he taught himself how to play the saxophone . In general, he mostly played solo, but in the course of his career he also worked with musicians such as Masayuki Takayanagi , Sabu Toyozumi and Aquirax Aida . Kaoru made numerous recordings for various record labels in the 1970s, and the majority of his publications appeared on DIW Records . In 1977 he recorded a live album with Keizo Inoue and Tatsuya Nakamura ( Live at八王子アローン). In March 1978, a quartet with Toshinori Kondō , Derek Bailey and Motoharu Yoshizawa recorded the album Aida's Call and a few days before his death he recorded The Last Recording (also known as the Last Date ).

Kaoru was a cousin of the famous singer Kyū Sakamoto and married to the author Izumi Suzuki . Little known outside of Japan, Kaoru died of a drug overdose at the age of 29; his death was quickly romanticized in the Japanese jazz underground. The director Kōji Wakamatsu made him the title character of his film Endless Waltz in 1995 .

literature

Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
Yuko Morita (Ed.): Abe Kaoru 1949–1978 . Bunyusha, Tokyo 1994 (Japanese).
Teruto Soejima : Nihon Free Jazz shi . ( 日本フリージャズ史 , Eng. "The History of Japanese Free Jazz"), Seidosha, Tokyo 2002 (Japanese).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Abe, Kaoru
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	阿部薫 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Japanese jazz saxophonist
DATE OF BIRTH	May 3, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kawasaki
DATE OF DEATH	September 9, 1978