is a critically acclaimed, award-winning Japanese jazz pianist and composer.

Biography

Raised in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, she studied music at Tohogakuen Music University. Starting in 1978, she performed and recorded in the USA with Lester Bowie

Lester Bowie

Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the AACM, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Biography:...

, David Liebman, John Zorn

John Zorn

John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...

 and others. Since 1981, she performed repeatedly at the Berlin Jazz Festival

JazzFest Berlin

JazzFest Berlin is a jazz festival based in Berlin, Germany. Originally called the "Berliner Jazztage" , it was founded in 1964 in West Berlin by the Berliner Festspiele. It is considered one of the world's premier jazz festivals...

 in Germany.

For many years, she has been working with her husband Alexander von Schlippenbach

Alexander von Schlippenbach

Alexander von Schlippenbach is a German jazz pianist and composer.-Biography:...

, Eugene Chadbourne

Eugene Chadbourne

Eugene Chadbourne is an American improvisor, guitarist and banjoist. Highly eclectic and unconventional, Chadbourne's most formative influence is free jazz. He has also been a reviewer for Allmusic and a contributor to Maximum RocknRoll.Chadbourne started out playing rock and roll guitar, but...

, Han Bennink

Han Bennink

Han Bennink is a Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured his playing on clarinet, violin, banjo and piano....

, Evan Parker

Evan Parker

Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...

, Paul Lovens

Paul Lovens

Paul Lovens is a musician. He plays drums, percussion, singing saw and various selected and unselected cymbals. He has also performed with the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra....

, Fred Frith

Fred Frith

Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...

 and others, and in duets with Maria João

Maria João

Maria João is a Portuguese jazz singer.She is known for her vocal flexibility and improvisational skills. While normally considered a jazz singer, her music incorporates a mix of folk/ethnic music, modern jazz, and the avant-garde...

, David Murray

David Murray (jazz musician)

David Murray is an American jazz musician. Murray plays mainly tenor saxophone and sometimes bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically for many record labels since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...

 and Rudi Mahall

Rudi Mahall

Rudi Mahall is a contemporary jazz bass clarinetist.While studying classical clarinet, Mahall shifted towards contemporary music, improvisation and jazz.He is, or was a member of following bands:...

.

In various projects, Takase has dealt with famous jazz musicians: Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

 (1990), Monk

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...

 (1994), Dolphy

Eric Dolphy

Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...

 (1998), W.C. Handy (2002), Fats Waller

Fats Waller

Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...

 (2004), O. Coleman

Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....

 (2006).

Since 1987, she has been living in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

.

Discography

• 1981: Minerva's Owl
• 1982: A.B.C.
• 1982: Perdido
• 1988: Looking for Love (with Maria João
  Maria João
  Maria João is a Portuguese jazz singer.She is known for her vocal flexibility and improvisational skills. While normally considered a jazz singer, her music incorporates a mix of folk/ethnic music, modern jazz, and the avant-garde...
  
  )
• 1990: Shima Shoka
• 1992: Close Up of Japan
• 1993: Clapping Music
• 1995: Play Ballads of Duke Ellington
• 1995: Piano Duets: Live in Berlin, 1993-1994
• 1997: Oriental Express
• 1997: Duet for Eric Dolphy
• 2001: Le Cahier du Bal
• 2002 News From Berlin
• 2002 Nine Fragments: Dempa
• 2003 The Dessert
• 2004 St. Louis Blues
• 2005 Lok 03
• 2006 Tarantella
• 2006 Spring in Bangkok [live]
• 2007 Ornette Coleman Anthology (with Silke Eberhard)
• 2007 Ich hebe meine Augen in die Welt (with Michael Griener)
• 2008 Live at Willisau Jazz Festival (Aki and The Good Boys)
• 2009 Evergreen (with Rudi Mahall
  Rudi Mahall
  Rudi Mahall is a contemporary jazz bass clarinetist.While studying classical clarinet, Mahall shifted towards contemporary music, improvisation and jazz.He is, or was a member of following bands:...
  
  )
• 2010 A Week Went By

Awards

• The German Record Critics' Award 2001 and 2004
• Jazz award of the German public broadcasting company SWR
  Südwestrundfunk
  The Südwestrundfunk is a public broadcasting company for the southwest of Germany, specifically the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The company has main offices in three cities: Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz, with the director's office being in Stuttgart. It is an...
  
  2002

External links

• Official site (in German, English and Japanese)
• Aki Takase interview at allaboutjazz.com