Takashi Furuya (February 13, 1936 – September 2, 2020) was a Japanese

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

saxophonist and vocalist.

Biography

Takashi Furuya was born in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

on February 13, 1936. He played violin and clarinet in his youth, and picked up saxophone as a teenager. He played on American

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

s in the 1950s and led his own bands starting in 1959. These ensembles had several names, including Takashi Furuya and the Freshmen, The Concord, Reunion, the Neighborhood Big Band, and Neo Sax Band. He accompanied visiting American musicians on tours of Japan, including

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, and

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. He has worked as a sideman for

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, Naosuke Miyamoto, and

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, and also collaborated with

Fumio Karashima was a Japanese jazz pianist. Life and career Karashima began playing the piano at the age of three. His father was a music teacher at Kyushu University; Karashima attended the same university. He stayed in New York in 1973, but returned to Japa ...

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, and Rikiya Higashihara. Furuya died on September 2, 2020, at the age of 84.

References

*Kazunori Sugiyama, "Takashi Furuya". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed.

Barry Kernfeld Barry Dean Kernfeld (born August 11, 1950) is an American musicologist and jazz saxophonist who has researched and published extensively about the history of jazz and the biographies of its musicians. Education In 1968, Kernfeld enrolled at ...

, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Furuya, Takashi 1936 births 2020 deaths Japanese jazz saxophonists Japanese jazz singers Singers from Tokyo 20th-century Japanese saxophonists 21st-century Japanese saxophonists 20th-century Japanese male singers 20th-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese male singers 21st-century Japanese singers Japanese male jazz musicians Japanese violinists Japanese clarinetists