Take Five-Yamamoto Hozan

Take Five -Yamamoto Hozan(Shakuhachi) with Blue Coats Orchestra, Tokyo Japan 2004

Born: 1938. Designated Living National Treasure in 2002.
Head of the Hozan-kai Shakuhachi Guild, performer, teacher, composer and pioneer in expanding the possibilities of the shakuhachi, Yamamoto Hozan attended the Seiha Music College graduating in 1962. After formation with Reibo Aoki and Katsuya Yokoyama of the widely acclaimed "Shakuhachi Sanbon Kai" trio in 1966, he electrified the conservative traditional scene by applying his talents to a variety of crossover collaborations beginning with the jazz idiom in 1967. These have led him to work with such world renowned musicians as Ravi Shankar, Jean Pierre Rampal, Tony Scott and Gary Peacock. Through the seventies and eighties to the present he has led the shakuhachi world receiving innumerable honors, including Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Education Ministerial awards for his performances, recordings (numbering in the hundreds) and compositions. He currently serves as lecturer at The Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music.