06.14 (Fri)
Ken Ota (saxophone)
Ken Ota is from Tahara in Aichi prefecture. From a young age he played classical music and saxophone, studying under Masato Kumoi. After studying at the Russian Literature department of Waseda University, he turned to jazz music and studied under Atsushi Ikeda, Kenny Garrett and Vincent Herring in the United States. In the 90s, he performed with Masahiko Osaka, Toku, Yosuke Konuma, Tommy Campbell, Yoichi Kobayashi. In 2018 he made his major label debut with the prestigious jazz label Verve, following the sax legend Sadao Watanabe, and released the album Swingroove. Outside Japan he performed with the Japan-Australia Jazz Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House and he appeared with his own band at Sakhalin-Hokkaido Jazz Festival and Triumph of Jazz, which is the biggest jazz festival in Russia. As well as jazz vocalists such as Marika Hiraga and Takako Afuso, he supported rock and pop singers like Eikichi Yazawa, Miyuki Hatakeyama, Shoko Nakagawa, and the classical marimba player Noriko Tsukagoshi. Some of his music is heard on television commercials for brands Clarion and Audi. He is now the Homeland Ambassador of Atsumi peninsula in Tahara, and has written the scho... More Biography
Ken Ota is from Tahara in Aichi prefecture. From a young age he played classical music and saxophone, studying under Masato Kumoi. After studying at the Russian Literature department of Waseda University, he turned to jazz music and studied under Atsushi Ikeda, Kenny Garrett and Vincent Herring in the United States. In the 90s, he performed with Masahiko Osaka, Toku, Yosuke Konuma, Tommy Campbell, Yoichi Kobayashi. In 2018 he made his major label debut with the prestigious jazz label Verve, following the sax legend Sadao Watanabe, and released the album Swingroove. Outside Japan he performed with the Japan-Australia Jazz Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House and he appeared with his own band at Sakhalin-Hokkaido Jazz Festival and Triumph of Jazz, which is the biggest jazz festival in Russia. As well as jazz vocalists such as Marika Hiraga and Takako Afuso, he supported rock and pop singers like Eikichi Yazawa, Miyuki Hatakeyama, Shoko Nakagawa, and the classical marimba player Noriko Tsukagoshi. Some of his music is heard on television commercials for brands Clarion and Audi. He is now the Homeland Ambassador of Atsumi peninsula in Tahara, and has written the scho... More Biography