Alongside Yellow Magic Orchestra and Plastics, Yasuaki Shimizu helped define the sound of '80s Japan. Decades later, he is still a first-call sessionman and producer, and a solo artist with a catalog that combines jazz, rock, and classical minimalism with musical traditions adapted from African, Middle Eastern, Ethiopian, and Jamaican sources. He founded experimental prog rock band Mariah in 1978 and issued their eponymous album in 1979. Two solo albums, 1982's Kakashi and 1983's Utakata No Hibi, framed the aesthetics of his future music, as evidenced by 1987's Subliminal's lush, post-new wave pop. Shimizu wrote and soundtracked the hit animated film X in 1996 and began releasing his globally acclaimed recordings of J.S. Bach's cello suites rearranged for saxophone. 2009's Pentatonica (with his Saxophonettes project) showcased vintage and 2000s compositions and covers. 2022 finally saw the release of Kiren (recorded in 1984) and NHK Saturday Drama (the soundtrack to Kuhaku wo Mitashinasai). Shimizu was born in Shimada, a rural enclave in Japan's Shizuoka prefecture near Mount Fuji. He was fascinated by aural sensation from a very young age. He was also drawn to musical instruments. Before picking up the saxophone seriously at age 11 and making it his primary instrument, Shimizu studied percussion, rudimentary violin, guitar, clarinet, and piano. He also enjoyed tinkering with electronics. As a teen, he was playing around with a radio transmitter he'd built when he heard a curious buzzing sound outside and followed it outdoors. Striding between the paddies in the rice fields, he heard a chorus of tens of thousands of insects. The experience inspired his lifelong interest in exploring sound and space. Shimizu's professional recording career began as a member of drummer/composer Motohiko Hino's hard bop quartet. Guitarist Kazumi Watanabe was also a member, and the pair became fast friends. Between 1976 and 1978, Shimizu played on pop, disco, and jazz records including those by Yosuke Yamashita Trio, singer Taeko Ohnuki, and disco revivalists the Paradise Garage. He scored a one-off contract with J-Jazz label Yupiteru Records, and issued his polished contemporary jazz debut, Get You, in 1978. The set was notable for Shimizu's compositions and the virtuosity of its pianist, Ryuichi Sakamoto. He also formed the nine-piece adventurous prog rock group Mariah, a band deeply influenced by psychedelia, global folk and pop traditions, and new wave. Their self-titled debut effort appeared in 1979. He signed with Electric Bird, another jazz independent, and the following year recorded and released Far East Express; it was recorded in New York City with a band that included trumpeter Lew Soloff, and bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson). He also played on Watanabe's Kylyn and Kylyn Live that year. In 1980, Shimizu was everywhere. He joined Toshiyuki Miyama & New Herd on the album Plays Chikara Ueda - Big Stuff, and recorded the album, Electro-Pops of Beatles '80 with Masunori Sasaji and Nobuyuki Shimizu (no relation). The wildly experimental solo album Berlin appeared in 1980. It blended classical, industrial, electronic, J-pop, rock, and jazz in original compositions. Mariah's second album, Yen Tricks=Yen, also appeared that year. Shimizu seemingly accepted every invitation during the '80s. He played on albums by Toots Thielemans and Tsunehide Matsuki, composer Masahiko Satoh, Watanabe, and many others. In 1981, Shimizu produced and released IQ 179 - The Nervous Activities Prevention Law with a cast that included Sakamoto, Watanabe, and a vocal chorus. Mariah also released their third and fourth albums, Marginal Love and Red Party. 1982 saw the release of Kakashi, the formal kick-off of a series of albums over the remainder of the decade and into the early '90s that was derived inspiration from new wave, electro-acoustic experimentalism, pop, and jazz. Shimizu considered it the first of a trilogy along with 1983's Utakata No Hibi (Mariah) and 1984's Kiren (the latter was unissued until 2022). 1983 also saw the release of L'Automne À Pékin, the debut release by Shimizu's Saxophonettes. The group's evolving lineup included Shimizu playing numerous saxophones fronting a rhythm section that featured Sakamoto on pianos and electric bass. Over the next five years, Shimizu focused on composing, producing, and session work. He released Stardust by his Saxophonettes and worked on albums by the Great Jazz Trio (New Yorker Short Stories), Seigen Ono (Seigen), Watanabe and Sakamoto (Tokyo Joe), French singer/songwriters Pierre Barouh (Le Pollen) and Alain Chamfort (Tendres Fièvres), as well as saxophonist Akira Sakata (Da-Da-Da). Shimizu released Dementos in 1988, his most ambitious, playful, and varied collection to date. The 12-track offering won acclaim from Tokyo to New York City for its multiple layers of sonic inquiry and elocution that wed pop, Japanese folk traditions, and electronic abstraction into a seamless whole. 1989's Aduna was recorded in London and featured drummer Gavin Harrison and guitarists Jakko M. Jakszyk and Wasis Diop in the lineup. In 1990, Shimizu scored Shadow of China, his first feature film, and recorded its soundtrack. Latin was issued under the Saxophonettes moniker. It was a collection of previously uncollected solo saxophone recordings (Shimizu played them all) from 1983 to 1991. He worked with Sakamoto on Better Days Of in 1992. In 1993, Saxophonettes issued Time and Again. In 1994 he made his first appearance with collaborator Towa Tei on Future Listening -- and remained part of the pop musician's studio bands through the early aughts. In 1994, Shimizu co-produced and appeared on Wasis Diop's No Sant. In 1996, the Saxophonettes project released Cello Suites 1-3, a radical rearrangement of Bach's Six Unaccompanied Suites for Cello, completely rearranged for saxophone. Shimizu's interpretation won acclaim from classical critics all over the globe. In 1999, he issued Cello Suites 4-6 to even greater reception and sales. Shimizu and the Moonriders joined Barouh for 2001's live Concert À L'Espace Pierre Cardin. He also produced and released Cinefil. Film Lovers' TV Channel - The Music under his own name. In 2004, he followed with the contemporary classical album Seventh Garden. He played all the instruments on a set of original compositions and was accompanied by vocalists on four tracks, including the Hibari Children's Chorus. Two years later, Shimizu transformed his Saxophonettes solo project into a quintet featuring Ryoko Egawa, Hirokazu Hayashida, Ryota Higashi, and Hiroshi Suzuki. The ensemble included three tenors and two baritone saxophonists. They recorded and released Pentatonica in 2007, melding classical, jazz and modern composition based on the five-note pentatonic scale. In addition to new compositions, it included arrangements of Ethiopian traditional music and two older pieces reworked. Shimizu took the group to Moscow, Havana, and Hong Kong on tour. Following the 2008 release of 100 in collaboration with composer David Cunningham (Flying Lizards), Saxophonettes debuted the first ever version of Bach's Goldberg Variations for a saxophone quintet and four contrabassists in 2010. They refined and recorded it in 2015. In 2018 (Re)Subliminal, a remixed, remastered, edited version of 1987's Submission appeared. Two years later, an archival trio performance from 2002 by Shimizu, Bill Laswell, and Hideo Yamaki at the Shinjuku Inn from 2002 was released by the bassist's M.O.D. label. In 2022 the indie Palto Flats label issued the widely acclaimed Kiren (recorded in 1984) for the first time; it was completely remastered from analog source tapes. It served as a long-rumored holy grail for fans and collectors. In 2023, Palto Flats followed with a completely remastered, painstakingly restored reissue of 1982's Kakashi. 2023 also saw the release of the TV score for NHK Saturday Drama (Kuhaku wo Mitashinasai). ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi