Pianist Yutaka Imai (ex Sadistic Mika Band, etc.), who sublimates POP into art, holds a solo concert that takes him on a journey through his life.


My first solo piano concert will be held at Nakameguro FJ’s on December 26th. In between, there will be a valuable talk about music and travel.

Yutaka Imai concert key visual

He began his professional career in 1970, starting with Rock Candies led by Shinji Tanimura, and participating in numerous recording sessions that transcended folk, rock, and pop music genres. He formed “Bamboo” with Kenji Omura and Rei Ohara in order to pursue cutting-edge musicality while working in the style of Nicky Hopkins, whom he admired as a valuable session man. He joined the Sadistic Mika Band in 1974, and while participating in the production of “Kurofune,” he met producer Chris Thomas, an experience that had a profound influence on his future musical career. Formed IMITATION in 1980 and held their debut live in Hong Kong, transmitting their humorous spirit and entertainment through POP MUSIC, giving a fresh impact to the music scene.

Since then, through numerous productions and performances, he has evolved his own unique musical perspective and presented it to the world, but the one that deserves special mention is the 1991 project “THE SYNMETRIC ORCHESTRA”. Amidst the snobbish world music boom of the 1990s, I ventured to Mali in Africa to visit Toumani Jabate, a master of folk instrument kora, and recorded while doing fieldwork there. Dubbing and mixing in London and New York. Through painstaking production work, it is a great achievement to have created truly international, strong, beautiful, and fresh music.

Since 2013, in support of the Great East Japan Earthquake, as part of a joint project with Sanriku Railway, they have performed “Let’s Take the A Train” at epoch-making times and locations with local high school brass bands.

This is the first project in which he has consistently reflected on the fact that his life is filled with the learning and inspiration of music, and has traced and narrated this using only the simplest and most profound instrument, the piano.

This is an event that many people want to experience.

Yutaka Imai comment:

My sense of sound. I hadn’t been conscious of it until now, but there was something I kept in mind when I was invited as a keyboard guest for a recording. It’s a feeling of fitting in unique sound processing appropriate for that era. I remember that I was thinking of adding a presence that would make the artist stand out even if it wasn’t obvious or a little off or didn’t fit. When I was recording for Sadistic Mika Band Kurofune, Chris Thomas, who I invited from England, would often say, “Imai, it’s too obvious,” so I naturally acquired this sense. ) alternative! It seems that he was thinking about finding another sense of values. In today’s world, we measure which spots (gaps) in Chaos are sparse, find a gap in which to insert a cassette, and pop a cassette containing the contents of the search for a unique sound. I’ll try to incorporate it. Following the path of his 55 years of performance, the sounds that he was obsessed with in each era have changed rapidly. The phrases played by guests during recordings and live performances are sometimes noisy and intertwined with the songs, and other times they just sit in the background and don’t do anything, and are inconsistent. Measure which spot (gap) in Chaos is sparse and try inserting it there. I’ve followed the path of my 55 years of performance, and the sounds I’ve become obsessed with from each era have changed rapidly.If I were to play in this day and age, I would be able to line up the sounds of each era and look at them from a bird’s-eye view. The first step is to explore what kind of sound cassettes can fit into the gap between the two, and to listen to the current music that I have discovered by becoming absorbed in it. I would like to perform it in front of people close to me and hear their reactions after the performance.

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Yutaka Imai 55th Anniversary
Solo Piano Live “Too Obvious?!”

The sounds that he was obsessed with at that time were changing rapidly. What appeared to be a lack of consistency could be explained as design rules when sorted out. Through LIVE and dialogue with the next generation of creators, we guide them through their own archives, and explore how they shape and explore their own musical performances from the late 1960s to now in 2024. It becomes.

Doors open 18:00 / Show starts 18:30

Advance ¥5.000 / On the day ¥5.500-(+1drink)

info ticket FJ’s | Cafe & Live spot 5-1-20 Nakameguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0061 03-6303-1214

Yutaka Imai Performance
Yoshihiro Hoshina Listener and interviewer
UK performance/Meeting with Chris Thomas
Kentaro Takahashi Dialogue
The story of making an album in Africa

Official Instagram Yu Imai (ゆう imai) (@yu_imai_official) • Instagram photos and videos

You May Also Like