SOUNDTYPE
The new jazz trio consisting of Yusuke Kono (pf), Yuta Omino (ba), and Makoto Otsu (ds) is scheduled to debut this year under the Playwright label.
Yusuke Kono
In 2011, he moved to New York and began his activities while immersing himself in the authentic music scene. In 2012, he was accepted with a scholarship to the prestigious New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, which has produced artists like Roy Hargrove, Brad Mehldau, Robert Glasper, and Jose James. There, he received guidance from legendary musicians such as Reggie Workman, Jimmy Owens, and Charles Tolliver.
During The New School's private lesson program, he received long-term instruction from pianists Gerard D'angelo, Taylor Eigsti, and Sam Yahel, living in an environment where he was directly exposed to the New York sound.
He returned to Japan in the fall of 2014 and formed the 'Yusuke Kono Piano Trio'. In 2015, they won the grand prize at the Sapporo City Jazz Park Jazz Live Contest 2015, earning the title of Japan's best jazz band in both name and reality.
From July 2016, they embarked on their first overseas tour, a European tour, and received acclaim performing at the Vienna Jazz Festival in Austria, one of the world's three major jazz festivals, and at Ronnie Scott's in the UK, one of Europe's leading clubs.
Yuta Omino
He has performed across the world as a highly in-demanded musician, especially Europian and Asian countries. With his
well-rounded musical background, he has joined many recordings and tours.
His career spans a wide range of genres, including jazz, Brazilian music, popular music, and traditional Japanese music. In
particular, he gained a lot of attention through Hideki Togi and Iwao Furusawa's Japan tour, Lisa Ono's "Dancing Bossa
Tour" in China, Florin Niculescu's Japan tour, among others.
As a co-leader of "tre farger", their 1st album was selected as the second place among Japanese artists in the
Instrumental category of ”the Jazz Audio Disc Awards 2015".
Also Omino have started polish-japanese musical project with Albert Karch, polish young-talented drummer, composer
since 2017. They performed throughout Japan and Denmark, and released their 1st album "Hare" in 2018. They were
invited to Copenhagen Jazz Festival in 2018 and 2019, playing as "Yuta Omino Quartet".
He has played with many other polish talented musicians, for example, Kuba Więcek, Mateusz Smoczyński, Cezariusz
Gadzina, Kamil Piotrowicz, and Tomasz Dąbrowski.
Makoto Otsu
Born on July 30, 1990, he spent ten years of his childhood in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
After returning to Japan, he joined the Yamaha Big Wave Orchestra in 2006, performing with Richie Cole (sax) and Randy Brecker (tp) in the same band.
Upon entering Keio University, his band, "Otsu Quartet," won the Audience Award at the 2010 Rokudai Music Festival finals.
In 2012, he joined WEFUNK, a dance and live band collaboration showcase group with a total audience of over 8,000. They perform annually at venues such as CLUB CITTA’, BLITZ YOKOHAMA, and ZEPP TOKYO.
In 2016, he participated in the nationwide solo tour 'Words of GRACE' of Asami Imai, the voice actress/singer known for her role as Kurisu Makise in the Tokyo MX TV anime 'STEINS;GATE.'
In August 2018, he composed, arranged, and played drums on "Ame no Ato ni ~Brighter Days Ahead~," a B-side track for the single featuring the ending theme "World-Line" of the same anime, which received critical acclaim.
With powerful beats and techniques influenced by American culture, he continues to collaborate with top musicians in the jazz and R&B scenes both domestically and internationally. His performances, which transcend genres from rock to pop, are highly acclaimed.
Debut Single "Family Mate"
8.14 OUT