Aki Takase

Japanese pianist and composer Aki Takase ranks among contemporary jazz’s most versatile practitioners. After surfacing during the 1970s she worked alongside forward-looking musicians such as Lester Bowie, the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, and John Zorn, as well as sharing stages with her husband, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach. Her first recording, the 1979 album As Time Goes By, earned widespread praise. Standout solo recitals encompass 1990’s Shima Shoka, 2001’s Le Cahier Du Bal, 2006’s Plays Fats Waller, and 2019’s Hokusai. Group projects and joint sessions include 2012’s New Blues, 2014’s So Long, Eric!: Homage to Eric Dolphy, 2017’s Cherry [Sakura] alongside David Murray, and 2019’s Kasumi with Ingrid Laubrock. Takase customarily appears on or issues multiple albums annually. Following pandemic-related pauses she resurfaced with the trio date Auge and the duo album Isn’t It Romantic? featuring saxophonist Daniel Erdmann. In 2023 Trost issued the 2021 session Four Hands Piano Pieces recorded by Takase and von Schlippenbach. Enja’s 1981 concert document Song for Hope, captured at her Berlin Jazz Festival debut, was reissued by BBE.

Born in Osaka on January 26, 1948 and raised in Tokyo, she began piano studies at age three before attending Tohogakuen Music University. Drawn to the music of Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and Charles Mingus, she embraced improvisation; by 1971 she performed professionally on a regular basis, and at twenty-five she already directed her own ensembles.

Her initial U.S. visit occurred in 1978, after which she recorded with Dave Liebman; in 1981 she traveled to Europe, where her trio appeared at the Berlin Jazz Festival. From 1982 onward she maintained an active studio presence, leading sessions such as A.B.C. and Perdido. While in New York she documented work with Sheila Jordan, Cecil McBee, and Bob Moses, and delivered a widely admired set at Nuremberg’s East-West Festival.

Between 1988 and 1994 Takase sustained a duo partnership with Maria João while sustaining an intensive festival itinerary. She also toured with Rashied Ali and Reggie Workman, both Coltrane alumni, assembled a septet of fellow Japanese musicians, wrote for string quartet, and continued solo appearances that occasionally incorporated the koto, a traditional Chinese 17-string zither. During these years she issued several respected Enja titles, among them 1990’s Shima Shoka, 1993’s Looking for Love, 1995’s Blue Monk, and 1997’s Oriental Express. She further joined her husband, pianist Alex von Schlippenbach, for concerts later compiled as Piano Duets: Live in Berlin, 1993-1994.

The 2000s proved especially fertile; she continued releasing material on Enja, Leo, and additional imprints while cultivating a sustained association with Intakt that yielded 2009’s Evergreen, 2011’s Two for Two, and 2014’s So Long, Eric! Homage to Eric Dolphy. In 2017 she collaborated with saxophonist David Murray on the duo album Cherry [Sakura]. Two years later Hokusai appeared, presenting Takase both unaccompanied and in duet with her husband, pianist von Schlippenbach. The 2019 duo release Isn’t It Romantic? paired her once more with saxophonist Daniel Erdmann. In 2021 she recorded Four Hands Piano Pieces with von Schlippenbach; Trost brought the album out in 2023. The following year BBE reissued Song for Hope, the archival trio recording of her 1981 Berlin Jazz Festival debut originally released by Enja and unavailable for nearly four decades.