Ryo Kawasaki

One of Japan's leading exports of jazz in the 1970s, Ryo Kawasaki was an already established player when he left his native Tokyo and moved to New York in 1973. There he forged a career playing alongside greats such as Gil Evans, Elvin Jones and bandleader Chico Hamilton before recording several albums as a solo artist or as bandleader himself. His late '70s and early '80s recordings cover and electric jazz-funk and fusion sound, full of atmosphere and soul music influence and featuring stellar guests such as Michael Brecker, Harvey Mason and Leon Pendarvis. Following these explorations, Kawasaki spent many years as an innovator of music hardware for emerging electronic technologies. He developed a pioneering guitar synthesizer in conjunction with Roland and Korg before creating the Kawasaki Synthesizer for the Commodore 64. Over recent years, his late '70s and early '80s music has been reevaluated and re-released by UK DJ Phat Phil Cooper and his NuNorthern Soul record label, who are responsible for bringing him to Zagreb for this gig.