is a Japanese jazz fusion

Jazz fusion

Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...

 guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 who is one of the founding members and the main composer of the band Casiopea

Casiopea

, named as a misspelling of the constellation Cassiopeia, was a Japanese jazz fusion band that was formed in 1976 by guitarist Issei Noro, bassist Tetsuo Sakurai and keyboardist Hidehiko Koike. In 1977, keyboardist Minoru Mukaiya and drummer Takashi Sasaki joined the group, leaving Hidehiko out of...

. He has released 6 solo albums and a compilation. He also works as an instructor of a guitar clinic, and as a producer. The guitar wizard enjoys to fish, paint, cook, and perform magic tricks during his private time.

In 1983, Yamaha

Yamaha

Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...

 had manufactured a Guitar specifically for Issei Noro, known as the Yamaha SG-IN (of course, I.N. are his initials.)

In 1987, he joined forces with The Square (now T-Square) guitarist Masahiro Andoh

Masahiro Andoh

is a Japanese composer, guitarist and T-Square's leader from Aichi, Japan. He was also One-Third of "Ottottrio", a Superband led by 3 Japanese Guitarists, Himself, Hirokuni Korekata of KORENOS and Issei Noro of Casiopea....

 and Hirokuni Korekata. They released 2 live albums and 1 studio album under the name Ottottrio

Ottottrio

-Lead Musicians:These 3 are the Core of Ottottrio.* Issei Noro of Casiopea * Masahiro Andoh of T-Square * Hirokuni Korekata of KORENOS -Ottottrio Band:* Chizuko Yoshihiro...

, as a side project.

Also, Issei Noro was a guest musician who performed with the Sega Sound Team in 1989.

It was announced on August 1, 2006 that Casiopea

Casiopea

, named as a misspelling of the constellation Cassiopeia, was a Japanese jazz fusion band that was formed in 1976 by guitarist Issei Noro, bassist Tetsuo Sakurai and keyboardist Hidehiko Koike. In 1977, keyboardist Minoru Mukaiya and drummer Takashi Sasaki joined the group, leaving Hidehiko out of...

 will stop its activities until further announcement, since Issei is exhausted from touring and recording nonstop.

However, the Closest to a Casiopea Reunion, is that Akira Jimbo (Casiopea's 1980-1989 and 1997-2006 drummer) is a member of Issei Noro's new band, "Inspirits". Besides having Noro and Jimbo, the band includes bassist Yuji Yajima, Ohgiya Kento on Acoustic Piano, and Ryo Hayashi on Keyboards. The group has recorded and released 2 albums.

Solo Albums

• Sweet Sphere (1985)
• Vida (1989)
• Top Secret (1996)
• Under the Sky (2001)
• Light Up (2002)
• Best Issei (Compilation, 2003)

Inspirits

• Inner Times (2008)
• Real Time [Live] (2008)
• Moments (2009)
• Smash Gig [Live] (2010)
• Beauty (2011)

Casiopea

• Casiopea
  Casiopea (album)
  -Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Michael Brecker - Tenor saxophone*David Sanborn - Alto saxophoneSTRINGS*"Tomato" strings-Production:*Kunihiko Murai - Executive Producer*Syoro Kawazoe - Executive Producer*Shinji Sawada - Producer...
  
   (1979)
• Super Flight
  Super Flight
  -Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Koji Hatori - Trumpet*Toshio Araki - Trumpet*Eiji Arai - Trombone*Jake H. Conception - Alto saxophone*Takeru Maruaoka - Tenor saxophone*Shunzo Sunahara - Baritone saxophone*Tomato Strings - Strings...
  
   (1979)
• Thunder Live
  Thunder Live
  Thunder Live is the third and first live album released by the jazz fusion group Casiopea in 1980.-Track listing:All tune arranged by Issei.-Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Syoro Kawazoe - Executive Producer...
  
   (1980)
• Make Up City
  Make Up City
  All Arranged by Issei Noro,except "Reflections Of You" by Minoru Mukaiya & Issei Noro- Personnel :CASIOPEA are* Shunsuke Miyazumi - Producer* Norio Yoshizawa - Engineer* Atsushi Saito - Assistant Engineers* Kazuyuki Takimoto - Illustrator...
  
   (1980)
• Eyes of the Mind
  Eyes of the Mind
  -Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Paulinho Da Costa - PercussionAll Arranged by Casiopea and Harvey Mason expect "Space Road" arranged by Kenny Mason.Synthesizer arrangements for "Magic Ray", "Black Joke" and "Take Me" by Bob James....
  
   (1981)
• Cross Point
  Cross Point
  - Personnel :CASIOPEA are- Production :* Producer - Shunsuke Miyazumi* Co-Producer - Harvey Mason* Associate Producer - Satoshi Nakao* Executive Producer - Shoro Kawazoe* Engineers - Norio Yoshizawa* Assistant Engineers - Atsushi Saito...
  
   (1981)
• Mint Jams
  Mint Jams
  - Personnel :CASIOPEA are* Associate Producer - Satoshi Nakao* Engineer - Norio Yoshizawa* Assistant Engineer - Atsushi Saito* Art Direction - Toshinao Tsukui* Illustration and Design - Masao Hiruma- Release history :...
  
   (1982)
• 4x4
  4x4 (Casiopea album)
  -Personnel:*Issei Noro – Electric guitar , Acoustic guitar , Percussion *Lee Ritenour – Electric guitar , Classical guitar , Acoustic Guitar *Minoru Mukaiya – Keyboards *Don Grusin –...
  
   (1982)
• Photographs
  Photographs (Casiopea album)
  -Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Recording Engineer - Norio Yoshizawa*Assistant Engineer - Shinji Miyoshi*Re-mixed - Norio Yoshizawa, Issei Noro*Mastering - Mituharu Kobayashi*Art Direction - Kaoru Watanabe...
  
   (1983)
• Jive Jive
  Jive Jive
  -Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Lorenza Johnson - Vocal *Guy Barker - Trumpet*Stuart Brooks - Trumpet*Phill Todo - Sax*Pete Beachill - Trombone*Richard Niles - Brass arrangement *Drachen Theaker - Tabla -Production:...
  
   (1983)
• The Soundgraphy
  The Soundgraphy
  -Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Paulinho Da Costa - Percussion*Bob James - Keyboards*Lee Ritenour - Guitar*Don Grusin - Keyboards*Nathan East - Bass*Harvey Mason - Drums, Percussion*Kiki Dee - Vocal-Production:...
  
   (1984)
• Down Upbeat
  Down Upbeat
  -Personnel:CASIOPEA are-Production:*Produced by Shunsuke Miyazumi and Issei Noro*Engineered by Rik Pekkonen*Assisted by Warren Bruleigh*Mastered by Bernie Grundman*Digital Technicians - John Butherford, David Satz...
  
   (1984)
• Halle
  Halle (Casiopea album)
  -Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Produced by Issei Noro*Co-Produced by Shunsuke Miyazumi**Recording & Re-mix engineer: Kohji Sugimoto*Assistant Engineers: Hiroyuki "Jax" Shimura, Hironobu Asano**Designer: Toshinao Tsukui*Photographer: Koichi Inakoshi...
  
   (1985)
• Casiopea Live
  Casiopea Live (Casiopea album)
  - Personnel :CASIOPEA are...
  
   (1985)
• Sun Sun
  Sun Sun (Casiopea album)
  -Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Frank Simms - Lead Vocal on "Sun"*Background Vocals on "Someone's Love" & "Conjunction" - Diva Gray, Vivian Cherry & Leatrice Griffin*Background Vocals on "Sun" & "Somethings Wrong " - Casiopea*Borneo Horns - Horns...
  
   (1986)
• Casiopea Perfect Live II
  Casiopea Perfect Live II
  Casiopea Perfect Live Live II is the third live album released by the jazz fusion group Casiopea in 1987.-Track listing:-Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Engineer - Kohji Sugimori, Yoshizawa Norio-Release history:...
  
   (1987)
• Platinum
  Platinum (Casiopea album)
  -CD Track listing:-Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Djavan - Vocal on A4*Background Vocal on A2, A5, B1 - Cedric Samson, Dina Miller, Amanda Blue, Issei Noro, Yukoh Kusunoki*Background Vocal on A1 - Issei Noro, Yukoh Kusunoki...
  
   (1987)
• Funky Sound Bombers (Japan-Only, 1987)
• Euphony
  Euphony (Casiopea album)
  Re-released in 2009 with "Halle" added to the track listing.-Personnel:CASIOPEA are* Executive Producer - Katsuki Hagiwara, Shinichi Toyama* Director - Koichi Nakagawa*Recording & Mixing Engineers - Koji Sugimori...
  
   (1988)
• Casiopea World Live '88
  Casiopea World Live '88
  Casiopea World Live '88 is the fourth live album released by the jazz fusion group Casiopea in 1988. It is a Compilation Album consistent of Recordings of some of their Songs played live and in Concert during Casiopea's World Tour in 1988 that promoted their Previous Album "Euphony". It is also a...
  
   (1988)
• The Party
  The Party (Casiopea album)
  -DVD Track listing:-Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Project Produced - Taketsune Kubo*Recording & Mixing Engineers - Koji Sugimori*Assistant Engineers - Masashi Kudo, Yuji Kuraishi*Synclavier Operator - Kenji Takizawa...
  
   (1990)
• Full Colors
  Full Colors (Casiopea album)
  -Personnel:CASIOPEA are-Production:*Sound Produced - Casiopea*Recording & Mixing Engineers - Koji Sugimori*Assistant Engineers - Yuji Kuraishi, Masashi Kudo, Yasuo Nakajima, Katsumi Moriya, Kengo Katoh, Kazuyoshi Hirayama...
  
   (1991)
• Active
  Active (Casiopea album)
  Active is the sixteenth studio album released by the jazz fusion group Casiopea in 1992. The album was recorded in Australia, Also where Casiopea's Live Album "Made in Melbourne" was recorded....
  
   (1992)
• We Want More
  We Want More
  -Time Capsule Medley's detail:-Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Supervisor - Tadashi Nomura*Artists Manager - Takashi E. Norway*Project Coordinator - Syunichi Jinyama, Kyoko Mashita*Producer - Ryoichi Okuda*Promotion Producer - Hiroharu Sato...
  
   (1992)
• Dramatic
  Dramatic (Casiopea album)
  -Personnel:CASIOPEA are*Producer - Kyoji Kato*Director - Hideyuki Akiyama*Associate Producer - Satoshi Nakao*Executive Producer - Shoro Kawazoe*Recording & Mixing Engineer - Koji Sugimori*Assistant Engineer - Kazuyoshi Hirayama...
  
   (1993)
• Answers
  Answers (Casiopea album)
  - Personnel :CASIOPEA are* Executive Producer: Yoshiaki Mizutani* Recording & Mixing Engineer - Ross Cockle* Mastering Engineer - Tohru Kotetsu* Assistant Engineer - Porter Miller* Instruments Technician - Yasushi Horiuchi, Eisuke Sasaki...
  
   (1994)
• Hearty Notes (1994)
• Asian Dreamer (1994)
• Freshness (1995)
• Flowers (1996)
• Light and Shadows (1997)
• Be
  Be (Casiopea album)
  - Personnel :CASIOPEA are* Styling - Sono Terasawa* Hair & Make up - Nobuyuki Kougo- Release history :...
  
  (1998)
• Material (1999)
• 20th (Casiopea's 20th Anniversary Album) (2000)
• Bitter Sweet (2000)
• Main Gate (2001)
• Inspire (2002)
• Places (2003)
• Marble (2004)
• GIG 25 (Casiopea's 25th Anniversary Album) (2005)
• Signal (2005)
• Gentle & Mellow (Best Studio Recordings Album, 2006)
• Groove & Passion (Best Live Performances Album, 2006)
• Legend of Casiopea (30th Anniversary Box Set, 2009)

Ottottrio

• Super Guitar Session Hot Live! (1988)
• Super Guitar Session Red Live! (1988)
• Triptych (1998, re-released as Blu-Spec CD on Dec. 23, 2009)