Biography
Takuya Kuroda has earned recognition as a trumpeter who blends post-bop, soul-jazz, and hip-hop into adventurous new territory. After first drawing notice through 2010s collaborations with vocalist José James, he built momentum with ambitious solo projects such as the 2014 release Rising Son, which James produced, and Zigzagger from 2016.
Kuroda entered the world in Kobe, Japan, in 1980 and entered the local scene by following his older brother, a trombonist, into big-band work. He pursued formal studies in Japan before relocating to Boston, where he enrolled at the Berklee College of Music and met José James. He later shifted to New York City and joined the Jazz and Contemporary Music program at the New School. Upon completing his degree in 2006, he had already rooted himself in the city’s thriving jazz community, sharing stages with musicians including Junior Mance, Greg Tardy, Andy Ezrin, Jiro Yoshida, Akoya Afrobeat, and Valery Ponomarev’s big band.
Leading his own ensembles, Kuroda issued early independent recordings—Bitter & High in 2010, Edge in 2011, and Six Aces in 2012—that showcased an assertive acoustic hard-bop approach. He further raised his profile through contributions to José James’s projects, appearing on the 2010 album Blackmagic and on 2014’s No Beginning No End, for which he also supplied horn arrangements.
Leveraging his association with James, Kuroda joined the Blue Note roster and cut his third solo album, the James-produced Rising Son. The 2014 set emphasized soul-jazz and hip-hop leanings, highlighted by several Roy Ayers pieces, among them “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” which featured James on vocals. Returning in 2016 with Zigzagger, his fifth solo outing and first for Concord, the trumpeter handled production himself and broadened his funk-, fusion-, and hip-hop-inflected palette across largely original material. The album included a collaboration with the New York Afro-beat group Antibalas on a reinterpretation of Donald Byrd’s “Think Twice.” He sustained the partnership with James by contributing horn parts to the singer’s 2018 album Lean on Me.
Fly Moon Die Soon appeared in August 2020, marking a further expansion into crossover territory. Recorded in Brooklyn under producer Todd Carder, the project welcomed guest vocals from Corey King and Alina Engibaryan and incorporated covers of Ohio Players’ “Sweet Sticky Thing” alongside Herbie Hancock’s “Tell Me a Bedtime Story.”
Kuroda entered the world in Kobe, Japan, in 1980 and entered the local scene by following his older brother, a trombonist, into big-band work. He pursued formal studies in Japan before relocating to Boston, where he enrolled at the Berklee College of Music and met José James. He later shifted to New York City and joined the Jazz and Contemporary Music program at the New School. Upon completing his degree in 2006, he had already rooted himself in the city’s thriving jazz community, sharing stages with musicians including Junior Mance, Greg Tardy, Andy Ezrin, Jiro Yoshida, Akoya Afrobeat, and Valery Ponomarev’s big band.
Leading his own ensembles, Kuroda issued early independent recordings—Bitter & High in 2010, Edge in 2011, and Six Aces in 2012—that showcased an assertive acoustic hard-bop approach. He further raised his profile through contributions to José James’s projects, appearing on the 2010 album Blackmagic and on 2014’s No Beginning No End, for which he also supplied horn arrangements.
Leveraging his association with James, Kuroda joined the Blue Note roster and cut his third solo album, the James-produced Rising Son. The 2014 set emphasized soul-jazz and hip-hop leanings, highlighted by several Roy Ayers pieces, among them “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” which featured James on vocals. Returning in 2016 with Zigzagger, his fifth solo outing and first for Concord, the trumpeter handled production himself and broadened his funk-, fusion-, and hip-hop-inflected palette across largely original material. The album included a collaboration with the New York Afro-beat group Antibalas on a reinterpretation of Donald Byrd’s “Think Twice.” He sustained the partnership with James by contributing horn parts to the singer’s 2018 album Lean on Me.
Fly Moon Die Soon appeared in August 2020, marking a further expansion into crossover territory. Recorded in Brooklyn under producer Todd Carder, the project welcomed guest vocals from Corey King and Alina Engibaryan and incorporated covers of Ohio Players’ “Sweet Sticky Thing” alongside Herbie Hancock’s “Tell Me a Bedtime Story.”
Albums
Add a Zero
2025
EVERYDAY
2025
Koo Voo
2023
Midnight Crisp
2022
Fly Moon Die Soon
2020
Zigzagger
2016
Rising Son
2014
Edge
2011
Singles
