Takeshi Asai, an acclaimed New York jazz pianist, composer and avid educator who is a partner in Steinway & Sons, has been conquering not only the New York and American jazz scenes (and the hearts of audiences), but reaching nearly every continent with his genius. Graduating with honours from the famous Berklee College of Music, he spent years working in the IT industry before deciding to devote himself to music for good. This summer, he released another CD album with his own compositions, garnering rave and exciting reviews from around the world. What is the phenomenon of Takeshi Asai? Let us ask the musicians with whom he shares the stage and at the same time - with whom he merges a friendship!
As as avid Physicist, I have been trying for years to solve the mystery of the Great Universe, looking into its particles, trying to find the answers to the bothering questions about the purpose and meaning of existence. More than a decade has passed since I discovered for good that all the answers are in ... music. If a god exists, if we believe in the great power that guides the world, if ... we dare to extend our hand in a shameless attempt to touch holiness - we will quickly understand that the simplest way leading to the most beautiful, holy and divine things that is worth our lives, is the music - but only the one created by an artist who has courage, talent and an amazing gift. Artist - the Chosen One, who dares to be on the other side of the Universe and - bit by bit, bring it to the ground, bewitching, luring, seducing.
The Artist whom I've found doing it for many years in a very unique and unimaginably beautiful way, is a world-renowned composer, pianist, producer (with his own recording studio in New York) and a keen educator (Steinway Educational Partner) for several decades living, creating and conquering jazz scenes in New York (and not only) - Takeshi Asai.
It's been over 7 years since I first heard Takeshi Asai's music. I still remember the moment when I've heard it, and I immediately realized that this is exactly what I need to own, to let deeply into my heart and mind and never let go away from my life! Over the years, my collection of Takeshi's CDs has grown to 10 original albums and each one is the one that I just love! I can't pick my favorite - and this, in my humble opinion, is something that distinguishes a great artist, the most perfect one, from others: everything he composes, the way how he plays the piano (or any other instrument) - he always does his best! And he is the best!
I often wonder what is the secret of the uniqueness of Takeshi's music and character.... and the more I wonder, the less I know. For me, it's just pure magic! Trying to get some sort of objective view, thanks to the great kindness of some musicians (and Takeshi's friends), I was happy (and honored) to talk for a while with them and get their own opinions on Takeshi Asai: both as a musician and.... as a friend.
Let's take a look and find out, who is Takeshi Asai and what makes him so extraordinary, both as a musician and as a friend! Let's talk to the musicians from GT3 - Jazz Standards (George Torella Trio), with whom he has been performing in recent years in Pennsylvania, and who agreed to spend some time talking with me despite their busy schedules!
Marta Ratajczak (MR): Most of your gigs, as I can see, are in a very special place in Pennsylvania, The Bookstore Speakeasy. I've heard that, thanks to GT3 - Jazz Standards, the place has just got an Award in a prestigious magazine, "Lehigh Valley Style"? Could you, please, tell me something more about the award, the place and the GT3?
George Torrella (GT):
(A leader of GT3- Jazz Standards, a drummer. He performs over 100gigs/ year in various configurations, from a trio through a quartet, a quintet to even more complex line-ups, each time presenting wonderful jazz standards in a different, innovative and extremely interesting way.)
GT: Each year readers of a well respected magazine, "Lehigh Valley Style" vote for the favorites in several categories. This year The Bookstore Speakeasy won for ‘Best Live Music Venue’ . This award is validation my efforts as Leader of GT3-Jazz standards, that has produced consistently well received Music from more than 40 different musicians each year in a variety of ensembles and instrumentation. I perform over 100gigs/ year with more than 40 fine musicians and Takeshi Asai is among the finest of the group.
(Bassist, being a professional musician for 33 years, playing upright bass and bass guitar in many different styles (jazz, classical, blues, rock, Rhythm and Blues,u musical theater), but mainly jazz for last few years. He has toured in Europe, Canada and US many times with different music groups.)
AB: The Bookstore Speakeasy is a restaurant in Bethlehem Pennsylvania that has jazz music every week. Bethlehem has many universities so it has a good college crowd that comes to eat there and to listen to jazz.
GT3 is a group run by drummer George Torella that specializes in jazz. There are about 40 musicians he uses so I end up playing with different musicians on his gigs.
I am always very happy when it is Takeshi playing piano.
MR: How did you met Takeshi Asai?
AB: I first met Takeshi on a GT3 gig almost 3 years ago. He is always very pleasant company and I enjoy having many musical conversations with him. He is a pleasure to talk to as well as play music with.
GT: We met on FB through a mutual friend, bassist Mark Wade. Takeshi hired Mark as his bassist quite often at local concerts and for Takeshi’s jazz residency at NYC’s ‘B Flat’ restaurant/club in Manhattan’s Tribeca district. After exchanging some thoughts and ideas, I invited Takeshi to perform in my trio. His schedule was pretty busy and he was touring quite a bit pre-pandemic.
Eventually our schedules worked out and we immediately hit it off musically and personally.
Soon after we had been playing several gigs, I met Takeshi’s wife, Sanae, who is a very accomplished artist and business woman. We were playing a Sunday Brunch at The Bayou, a New Orleans style restaurant/café. My wife, Lorraine, came to the gig along with Sanae. We all had brunch afterwards and thus began our friendship.
MR: George, you mentioned a great bassist, Mark Wade... Let's ask Mark about his work with Takeshi!
(Voted one of the top bassists five of the last six years by the prestigious "Downbeat Magazine Reader's Poll", an active bassist in the New York City area for over 20 years. Faculty member of the jazz program at Lehigh University, New York Pops Teaching Artist and the founder and director of New Music Horizons.)
MW: He is a great guy and I have enjoyed working with him. Takeshi called me to play with him for a regular gig that he has here in New York City. That is how I met him. It was a blind date of sorts.
Right away I could see that he was a very passionate musician who is fully engaged in the music. The gigs we play together we’re high energy affairs that always made for interesting music. Off the bandstand, he is a true gentleman. He is always complementary of the other musicians he works with. It is always a pleasure to work with him. I’m looking forward to resuming our gigs now that things are starting to improve here in New York.
MR: And what about you, Charlie?
Charlie Schaffer (CS):
(A professional sax and clarinet player for about 40 years. Graduated from Berklee in 1982. He's done a lot of night club work over the years, spent a good amount of time on the road when he was younger, and even did some cruise ship work.)
CS: I only met Takeshi about a year ago, thanks to George Torrella, an outstanding musician in his own right.
What I love about Takeshi is his approach to different styles. When we swing a tune, he really swings, when he plays a ballad he really pays attention to whoever is playing the lead part. His comping and soloing are just amazing.
And he is one of the nicest people that I have ever met.
It is always a great gig when he's on it.
"[Takeshi Asai] is a wonderful person and a musician. On the talent he has on the instrument is an amazing gift from God that make him extraordinary person a good friend." - Ruby Colon.
MR: George, as a leader of GT3, what would you say about Takeshi - both as a friend and as a musician?
GT: My parents were from Spain and Sicily while Takeshi’s Family was from Japan. Though we do not share a similar cultural background, our points of view about life and music were very similar. This made our friendship very easy and enjoyable. Takeshi is very observant but not judgmental. He is open to discuss ideas along with divergent points of view. And he has a dry sense of humor which makes for interesting conversations between sets. Takeshi is always polite and positive, even under difficult circumstances. I recall having to cancel a gig at the last minute and his reaction was to thank me for letting him know and to express his regret about the cancellation.
As our friendship developed, we were invited to their home in Eastchester for lunch. And it turned out to be a Japanese feast, including fresh vegetables from their garden, interesting wines and terrific hospitality. We were fortunate to meet Takeshi’s father who was visiting from Japan at that time. Of course, we ended the day with a brief duet in in honor of his dad. They made us feel very comfortable, as you would expect from a good friend.
MR: ... and as a musician...?
GT: Chet Baker once quipped that “…a drummer has to be good, because he has to be better than no drummer”. Well, Takeshi and I have enjoyed many Piano/Drum duets where I was constantly challenged to be better than no drummer! He assures me that I am…so, we continue.
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| Gene Perla (b), George Torrella (d), Takeshi Asai (p) |
Takeshi is very comfortable in his ability to adapt to various musical settings and instrumentation while respecting the music and the creative interests of other musicians. His dynamics are continuously fine-tuned to the temperature of the music. And his sense of harmony, timing, and incorporating substitutions along with rhythmic variety when needed are masterfully executed within the spirit of each composition.
MR: Arturo, how do you find playing with Takeshi? What is the thing you like the most about it?
AB: What I really like about working with Takeshi is that he is a very versatile and well rounded musician. He can play jazz in the old traditional style of 1920s and 30s jazz, and he can also play in agreement modern style similar to Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock. That is something I really appreciate when we work together. It means we don't have to play the same style of jazz all night. If I end up playing the melody on a song I know he will provide very sympathetic accompaniment. We can also inject some elements from classical music, like rubato intros and interludes into the songs. This makes the music and the experience of playing music much richer.
He is a wonderful player who I treasure working with and he always brings a calm and wonderful energy to the gig.
Just recently we had 2 Latin percussionists play with the group and Takeshi was able to play with me in a salsa/Latin jazz style that is markedly different from straight ahead jazz. This is another reason I am always happy when he is the piano player on these gigs.
MR: The picture above is taken after one of your great performance at the Bookestore Speakesy. That was a special night and some additional musicians joined your performance...?
Cruz Rodriguez (CR):
(Born in Puerto Rico, moved to New York in the early 80s to become a Nuyorican! Attended boys harbor music school, has played since with many NYC bands, music from salsa, blues, jazz to more recently funk and soul. He plays congas, bongos and small percussion.)
CR: I went to see the band without knowing any of the band members, I love jazz and that show was there so I figure let's see this, after seeing the band I introduced myself to one of band members and told him about myself been a percussionist, he asked me if I have any instrument with me, I had my Bongo that I took in case I can play. They invited me to sit with them, and the chemistry was instant, Takeshi piano playing made my job easy, he was right on top of everything I was doing, improvising myself and the whole band went so smooth that I felt like part of it it was the first time I played with him, the man is a genius on this instrument I'm glad to share the stage with him, and looking forward to play again. He is a great person humble and full of skills can play latin ritmo very well.
MR: George, what can you tell us about playing together with such a friend like Takeshi Asai is for you?
GT: Very often, regardless of the ensemble, Takeshi and I find ourselves locked in similar complimentary rhythms or ascending/descending patterns which develop from the anticipation of our listening skills. He is always one step ahead of where we are, listening to the past and imaging the future at the same moment and producing the needed bridge, the link, the answer to the question, and then the new question!
It is always exhilarating and fun playing together. When you have a friendship musically and personally it makes every gig shine!
Last but not least, I've had a huge delight to talk for a while with an excellent journalist, who's privately also a friend of Takeshi Asai. Last album of Takeshi, "The Electric Project Vol. 2", contains many compositions written as a gift to some special people he wanted to honour. One of them, a brillant and very beautiful one, "Son Ange", is a ... Wedding Gift (!) from Takeshi Asai to Travis Rogers and his wife, Nicole!
Travis Rogers Jr., "The Jazz Owl":"It is quite and extraordinary thing to bear witness to the musical artistry of Takeshi Asai. It is something uniquely wonderful to come to know him as a friend. His warmth and generosity, humor and intelligence, are all very clear with every note he plays. Getting to know him, however, reveals what is behind every note and rhythm. His kind heart amplifies his compositional brilliance and performing virtuosity.
There are some composers and musicians whose life and character give lie to their music. This is not the case with Takeshi. The emotion and sincerity heard in each and every one of his albums is proven over and again by the sweetness of his words and the brightness of his character.
He opens his heart as well as home to his friends. His cooking is a complement to his conversation—both are fragrant and flavorful. His home and garden and life are as inviting as his music.
It goes both ways, his music reveals his heart and his character reveals his artistry."
It's been such a great honor and such a big pleasure to talk to all these great musicians and friends of Takeshi, listening to the superlatives and passion in which they speak about the musician I admire so much. At the end, I asked myself - if all of them have done me a favor answering my questions about Takeshi Asai, why shouldn't I also share my own thoughts, both - with them and - with the Readers of Babskim Uchem?
I have been following Takeshi's doings as an Artist very thoroughly for many years, in a very broad context (as he is a versatile artist). He's a composer, teacher (Yes! If you are Takeshi Asai, even teaching young musicians is kind of art!), pianist, but also - an excellent photographer. Most of all, he's a splendid human being, what makes his art (... of living, creating and playing music) top notch. I think the mystery of Takeshi's art being so great is his ability to see what anyone else can't see, and to show it the way everyone notices and falls in love with. I mean: We all live our lives in a very fast pace, with daily responsibilities and self-imposed strictly paths, often remaining blind to the crumbs of beauty so abundantly woven into our daily lives. Meanwhile, Takeshi is an artist who is extremely sensitive to even the smallest details that he finds beautiful and worth showing to others. But, what he does about them is dressing them up in the most beautiful crumbs of magic, so as to enchant all those who, in their wild, blind rush, lose the most wonderful and valuable aspects of life:
In photographs - he leans on beauty, stopping in time and dressing it in the wonderful clothes of his great talent for showing the world the reality filtered through his artistic, sensitive eye.
In his compositions and the way he plays the piano - all the impeccability, purity and sensitivity of his soul, everything that he sees as an artist and to which we are so blind - he shows us with the greatest respect, power, dignity, in an unimaginably beautiful, fantastic and moving way.
Another interesting thing is the way in which he plays covers - Takeshi is able to turn even the best of songs into an even greater wonder, looking deep into the gist, not into the notes - but into the thoughts of the authors of the composition and ... with the greatest respect for the original, he gives it new colors, weaves a wonderful color of his own perception of music between the sounds we know and makes it better, more interesting, more colorful, filled with extraordinary goodness, warmth and beauty.
However, Takeshi Asai is not only a great musicians, from the very best league - he's also just ... a good person who makes everyone feels important to him! He's able to listen to the others - both as a human and as a musician - he respects people, respects listeners, telling and showing only the most beautiful things, never pretending, always sharing the very true face of Takeshi Asai. The question is - why shouldn't he?
When you are Takeshi Asai, being so incredibly great in anything you touch - why should you pretend anyone else? Whomever he tried to pretend - he'd never be as great as he really is. Because, we all are sure: There's only one Takeshi Asai. And he is the best one!
Marta Ratajczak
/All photos were submitted by my interviewees and used with their permission/
Takeshi Asai's website: http://takeshiasai.com/
EPK: http://takeshiasai.com/frame.html
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| Some excerpts of reviews of "The Electric Project Vol. 2" album |
Takeshi Asai's discography, reviewed on Babskim Uchem:
Solo projects:
External publications:
JazzPress - November 2021 - Review:
ArtPost 5(41)/2021 - Article:
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