Jeff Kashiwa is an American saxophonist with the smooth jazz band

the Rippingtons The Rippingtons are an American contemporary jazz group, mainly relating to the genres smooth jazz, jazz fusion, jazz pop, and crossover jazz. Formed in 1985 by guitarist and band leader Russ Freeman, their career has spanned more than three d ...

and one of three with the Sax Pack, as well as having recorded several albums under his own name.

Life and career

Jeff Kashiwa was born in 1963 in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

but moved to

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

as a young child. He credits the public school's music program for inspiring his interest in music, along with his father, who died in 1992, who was a fan of jazz music including

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

and

Glenn Miller Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces ...

. While attending school, his father gave him an old silver clarinet but, when he later saw a row of saxophones at school, Kashiwa knew he had found the instrument for him. As a local gig musician working small jobs, Kashiwa wanted a more permanent position in a band and, after searching for some time without success, he approached bassist

Steve Bailey Steve Bailey is an American bassist. He is the chair of the bass department at Berklee College of Music. Career Bailey began playing bass guitar at age 12 and started playing fretless bass after he ran over his fretted Stuart Spector with his ...

of the Rippingtons, of whom he was a fan, and hired Bailey to play along with him. He eventually sought an audition for the Rippingtons, one of the genre's most successful bands, which led to him joining them following a festival concert and Brandon Fields' departure from the group. Prior to his audition, he prepared by learning every song in the group's library, making his eventual step into Field's large shoes seemingly effortless. Kashiwa recorded his first two solo albums, ("Remember Catalina" and "Walk A Mile"), during his tenure with the Rippingtons. In 1999, though, he left the Rippingtons to concentrate on his own band, Coastal Access, which included Melvin Davis (Bass), Allen Hinds (Guitar), Dave Hooper (drums) and Dave Kochanski (Keyboards/Synths).

Eric Marienthal Eric Marienthal (born December 19, 1957) is a Grammy Award-nominated Los Angeles-based contemporary saxophonist best known for his work in the jazz, jazz fusion, smooth jazz, and pop genres. Early life Eric Marienthal was born on December 19, 1 ...

and Paul Taylor both covered the sax player spot in the Rippingtons for a few years, but Kashiwa temporarily rejoined the band in 2007 for their 20th Anniversary Tour, and continues to record and perform with the group from time to time. In 2004, Kashiwa got in touch with some of his saxophone peers to start a new group called the Sax Pack, led by three sax players, building on their collective musical passion for jazz, funk and R&B. " The Sax Pack" features Jeff Kashiwa, Steve Cole &

Kim Waters Kim Waters (born March 20, 1965) is an American jazz artist born in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Early life Waters grew up in Harford County, Maryland. Waters learned how to play the saxophone at a young age. He attended C. Milton Wright High ...

. Along with being musically cohesive, the trio share a unique and comical camaraderie on stage. The Sax Pack released three CDs, "The Sax Pack" (2008), "The Pack is Back" (2009) and "Power of 3" (2015) on Shanachie Records. Kashiwa not only plays

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...

and

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

saxophones,

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

and the EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) but also composes, produces and teaches. He attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

in 1981–83, where he developed an interest in straight-ahead jazz and, as a student, was picked as second alto chair by Disney's All American College Band. He eventually became an instructor. Kashiwa later transferred to

Cal State Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), also known in athletics as Long Beach State University (LBSU), is a public teaching-focused institution in Long Beach, California, United States. The 322-acre campus is the second largest in the ...

and received his Bachelor's degree in Music in 1985. He currently teaches Music Technology at Shoreline College, as well as private courses for students of all ages. Kashiwa has a wife, Chaunte, and a daughter, Catalina.

Discography

As leader

* 1995 ''Remember Catalina'' * 1997 ''Walk a Mile'' * 2000 ''Another Door Opens'' * 2002 ''Simple Truth'' * 2004 ''Peace of Mind'' * 2007 ''Play'' * 2009 ''Back in the Day'' * 2012 ''Let It Ride'' * 2017 ''Fly Away'' * 2021 ''Sunrise'' * 2024 ''Luminoso''

As a member of the Rippingtons

* 1990 '' Welcome to the St. James' Club'' * 1991 '' Curves Ahead'' * 1992 '' Weekend in Monaco'' * 1994 ''

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

'' * 1996 ''

Brave New World ''Brave New World'' is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931, and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hier ...

'' * 1997 '' Black Diamond'' * 2011 ''

Côte D'Azur The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

As a member of the Sax Pack

* 2008 ''The Sax Pack'' - Steve Cole, Jeff Kashiwa, Kim Waters * 2009 ''The Pack Is Back'' - Steve Cole, Jeff Kashiwa, Kim Waters * 2015 ''Power of 3'' - Steve Cole, Jeff Kashiwa, Kim Waters

References

External links

*
The Sax Pack Official Site
* AllMusic.com profile* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kashiwa, Jeff 1963 births Musicians from Louisville, Kentucky Smooth jazz saxophonists Musicians from Seattle Berklee College of Music alumni American musicians of Japanese descent Living people The Rippingtons members 21st-century American saxophonists Native Language Music artists