Mastersellection Apf Arimasa, Fukamachi, Shimizu, Hirakawa

• Yuki Arimasa (b. 1961): Inspirations:
• 1 Arimasa: Inspirations: Bach Partita BWV 826 Sarabande Part 1 02:05
• 2 Arimasa: Inspirations: Bach Partita BWV 826 Sarabande Part 2 02:39
• 3 Arimasa: Inspirations: Bach Partita BWV 826 Sarabande Part 3 02:56
• 4 Arimasa: Inspirations: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 8 Op. 13 Adagio 05:07
• George Gershwin (1898 - 1937): I 've Got A Crush On You:
• 5 Gershwin: I 've Got A Crush On You 04:28
• I Love You Porgy:
• 6 Gershwin: I Love You Porgy 05:30
• Jerome Kern (1885 - 1945): Smoke Get's In Your Eyes:
• 7 Kern: Smoke Get's In Your Eyes 06:35
• Jun Fukamachi (b. 1946): Jour Naissant:
• 8 Fukamachi: Jour Naissant 03:53
• Nature:
• 9 Fukamachi: Nature 05:10
• Yuki Arimasa: In the Mist of Spring:
• 10 Arimasa: In the Mist of Spring 06:59
• Two Autumns:
• 11 Arimasa: Two Autumns 06:35
• Hoagy Carmichael (1899 - 1981): Stardust:
• 12 Carmichael: Stardust 05:44
• Total Runtime 57:41

Info for Mastersellection Apf

A compilation meticulously selected from the Unamas master recordings. As the latest album in the series, we present UNAMAS MASTER SELECTION, featuring twelve carefully chosen tracks from Apf's solo albums. Enjoy the rich performances and sound, remixed from the original recordings.

Yuki Arimasa, piano
Jun Fukamachi, piano
Eriko Shimizu, piano
Keigo Hirakawa, piano

Yuki Arimasa
After spending time in the U.S. for 15 years,Yuki settled back in Japan and focused on the piano trio format. He recorded “Tell Me Where The Music Is”, which expressed his musical artistry through his original compositions. As Yuki Arimasa Trio continues to broaden the possibilities in trio format, the desire to explore music further in even smaller format as in piano solo and duet grew and in the past several years, he had number of piano solo and duo appearances in the concerts and club gigs. In 2011 the solo album “Forest” was released, which consists of his original compositions, followed by “Vol. One”, the duet album with Tomonao Hara, as the first release of Duo Project. This project continued to another duo album, “The Days of Wine and Roses”. Recently he released the second solo album, “Dimensions”, which he utilized the classical compositions to enhance the possibilities in improvised music.Along with those projects, he continues to perform with many players with highest musical passion around Tokyo area. Most recently he focuses on yet another project of a trio without bass.The band named “TrioSamadhi” was formed by Yuki, Hisatsugu Suzuki (Tenor Sax) and his his long time musical colleague Dairiki Hara (Drums). Currently TrioSamadhi has been consistently making club dates throughout Japan to explore the new style in free expression in Jazz music. Yuki started Jazz music self-taught as when he first listened to Jazz at the age of 10, he found nobody around to learn from. As his passion grows he went to Berklee College of Music to receive formal training in Jazz. In Berklee he met much respected classical pianist/teacher Edward C. Bedner whose piano education still has strong influence in his piano playing. With Ed Bedners’ direction Yuki almost relearned the piano and developed some classical repertoire. After graduating he taught Jazz Piano at Berklee for 8 years. This experience of teaching students from all over the world gave him a perspective in Jazz education, which he continues to carry into his current activities in musical education in Senzoku College of Music as a professor in Jazz. He has also actively involved in Elementary School Jazz Education Program. Yuki now performs his music and conducts many workshops for Jazz fans and young musicians throughout Japan as well as many foreign countries. In 2016, he founded, “Artist Green“, an organization to become a communicational, educational platform for musicians from all over the world.

Jun Fukamachi
Since his debut in 1971, he has produced numerous original albums and performed with his own bands. In the late '70s, he invited New York based studio musicians such as Steve Gadd(ds), the Brecker Brothers and Mike Mainieri(vibe) to Japan and they held live performances together at various venues. His album "Jun Fukamachi & the New York All Stars/Live" was re-released in 2002. In 1989, he became a Professor of the Department Music at Senzoku Gakuen College and was charge of establishing Japan's first course specializing in music synthesis. In 1996 he left the university and resumed his career as a musician. His recent live performances are mainly based on piano improvisation, exploring the possibilities of creating music of the Japanese origin for the world's audience.

Eriko Shimizu
Born in 1973. Due to her grandmother's teaching of piano and electone, she has been familiar with musical instruments since childhood. She started learning in earnest at the age of 5, learning classical music and composition. When she was 16, she played her own concerto with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.She has a wealth of experience playing abroad such as France, Germany, Austria and the United States. After that, she left the musical path once, but was strongly attracted to the jazz that she met at a store where she worked part-time at the age of 19, and learned jazz piano by herself. Since then, she has performed with many talented musicians, and now she continues to pursue her own music through more than 300 performance activities a year. Released the first album "Sora" in 2010 and the duo "Double axes" with Shinichi Kato in 2018. In 2022, the piano trio "Aspire" was released from .

Keigo Hirakawa
Over the period of 20 years as a professional jazz pianist and 7 full-length album appearances (3 as leader), Keigo Hirakawa has transformed himself from a student of the jazz masters to an artist with vision and unique sense of expressions. Though his engagements may include jazz clubs to music halls and jazz festivals, he takes the time to contribute to his home music scene through mentorship and appearances with up-and-coming talents. The jazz piano trio he leads is well-known throughout the Midwest for their willingness to be musically spontaneous on stage, exploring original compositions and redefining jazz standards to make it their own. Sought after for his articulate use of harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary and his leadership style on the bandstand, Hirakawa can be heard throughout the US and internationally.

Trained in New York City and at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Hirakawa is fortunate to have been mentored by many world-class jazz artists, including Danilo Perez, Stephen Scott, Harold Danko, Alan Pasqua, Ran Blake, Cecil McBee, Ralph Peterson, Jerry Bergonzi, Donald Byrd, John McNeil, George Garzone, Bob Moses, and Walt Weiskopf. He has appeared on stage alongside Donald Byrd, Joe Lovano, Robert Hurst, JD Allen, Carla Cook, Bobby Lavell, Bob Moses, and Allen Vizzutti; toured with Stacy Dillard, Duane Eubanks and Noah Preminger; has performed with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra; and his latest album features the jazz bass legend Robert Hurst. He was the acting director of the Cornell University Jazz Ensembles in 2000-2001, during which time he welcomed Donald Byrd, Jimmy Heath, Wycliffe Gordon, Terell Stafford, Vincent Herring, and Joe Chambers onto the stage as guest soloists. He is a passionate clinician and educator, and is on faculty at the University of Dayton. ​

2010 marked the released of “Hessler-Cabrillo Run Down,” Hirakawa’s first album as a co-leader with saxophonist Joshua Smith. Dedicated to the late comic writer and jazz critic Harvey Pekar, the album celebrates the Avant Garde jazz with every track improvised without any precomposed music. The album features Kurt Kotheimer and John Schifflett on bass, and Tim Bulkley and Hamir Atwal on drums.

Hirakawa released a critically acclaimed trio album “And Then There Were Three” in 2015 with long time collaborators Eddie Brookshire on bass and Fenton Sparks on drums. Piano trio format itself may be a tradition in jazz, but the trio defies expectations by Hirakawa shifting through time and rhythm over a powerful rhythm section committed to swinging hard.

His latest quintet album "Pixel" released in June 2023 featured Robert Hurst on bass, Rafael Statin on saxophone, Brandon Coleman on guitar, and Alex White on drums. His distinctive compositional style invites soloists to dig in all the way, with punchy guitar-piano rhythm section riding over undeniable force of the bass notes that Hurst is known for.

He also appears as a sideman on Brandon Coleman’s “Infinite Loop” (2017), Kota Sawaguchi’s “Cats on the Fence” (Una Mas Label, 2018), Joseph Howell's "Live in Japan" (Summit Records, 2021), and G Scott Jone's "Walk With Me" (2022).

This album contains no booklet.