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Yosuke Yamashita | Essential albums and listening guide
Explore Yosuke Yamashita through Clay. Discover what to listen for and follow related styles to your next record.
Yosuke Yamashita
Meet the artist
A free jazz pianist known for his intense touches and physical performances. He played a central role in establishing the unique avant-garde nature of Japanese jazz. Percussive piano movement meets ensembles built on immediate response.
Intensity is shaped through changes of density and speed, not simply by adding notes. Free improvisation coexists with melodic beauty and glimpses of jazz tradition. Listening to the equal movement of piano, drums, bass or winds reveals the pleasure of making form collectively. His work offers a physical as well as exploratory route into Japanese avant-garde jazz.
Where to start listening
Move between the piano's percussive sound and moments when a melody emerges. Following changes in density can give even intense passages a clear path.
1974
1990
Years follow the Atlas catalogue. Recording dates, original release dates and digital reissue dates may differ.