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Atzko Kohashi

Atzko Kohashi, who currently resides in Amsterdam, is a Japanese born pianist with international background. By the age of 5, her musical path began by studying classical piano in Japan. During her university studies (Law at Keio University in Tokyo), she joined the college jazz big band. From 1994-2001, Atzko lived in New York where she studied jazz piano with the master Steve Kuhn. Atzko has thus experienced three different cultures: Japanese, American and European. Such multicultural background has surely influenced her view on music and led to her unique musical style. “Warm, Natural and human” ''Still waters run deep” “Being neither too much nor too little, which seems something common with Zen philosophy”– critics describe the playing of pianist Atzko Kohashi. Whilst her musical root lies in Jazz, she adapts the melodies to her own voice.

After moving to Amsterdam in 2005, she formed a duo with Dutch bassist Frans van der Hoeven and released duo album Amstel Moments in 2009 and Waltz for Debby in 2013. She also made an album with Drummer Sebastiaan Kaptein called Dualtone. Then all three musicians came together and produced the album Lujon. Atzko went on a tour to Japan as part of the duo in 2013 and as a trio in 2016, playing at several concert halls in Japan, and their concerts were well received among many music lovers.

In 2017 she released an album called Elegy with Russian classical cellist Maya Fridman in ÆON trio - jazz & classics cross-border. Atzko also released her first vinyl album Lost & Found accompanied by Dutch Surinamese singer Denise Jannah. Atzko and Denise succeeded a duo concert at DeLaMar Theater in Amsterdam in October 2020. She also works on the trio project with Dutch trumpeter Angelo Verploegen and bassist Tony Overwater, and the trio released their new album called Virgo in 2019.

In 2020 Atzko made a recording with Eddy Koopman, percussionist of Metropole Orchestra, and their album Sketches of Seasons will be released in Januaryin 2o22. She recently teamed up with bassist Tony Overwater as a duo, and released the album Crescent, a tribute to Composition of John Coltrane.

She has been particularly acclaimed for the beauty of her piano tone. Hence her albums have also been highly praised by both music lovers and audiophiles.

http://www.atzkokohashi.com

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Hi-Res Jazz

TRPTK: Breaking Genre Walls

Read "TRPTK: Breaking Genre Walls" reviewed by Mark Werlin


TRPTK, an independent new music label based in the Netherlands, produces hi-res recordings with astonishingly realistic sound quality. TRPTK's catalogue of jazz and new music erases the boundaries of musical genres, and pursues a commonality of purpose that overrides differences in cultural and national backgrounds. Æon Trio: Elegy Elegy, performed by the jazz ensemble Æon Trio of Japanese pianist-composer Atzko Kohashi, Dutch bassist Frans van der Hoeven and Russian-born cellist Maya Fridman, draws on the diverse streams of ...

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After studying classical piano in Japan and a first contact with jazz in the big band of her university, Atzko Kohashi went to New York where she studied with Steve Kuhn, before moving to Amsterdam where she is now part of the Dutch jazz scene. She will play in duo with bassist Frans van der Hoeven before forming a trio with trumpeter Angelo Verploegen and another bassist known in our country for a short collaboration with Nathalie Loriers, but also for his interest in Arab music, Tony Overwater. This trio will release in 2019 the beautiful "Virgo" already on the label Jazz in Motion, a project where the influence of Zen philosophy already illuminates the entire album.

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Crescent

Jazz In Motion Records
2022

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Crescent

Studio Songs / Japan
2021

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Soul Eyes / piano solo

Studio Songs / Japan
2021

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Virgo

Jazz In Motion Records
2019

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Elegy

Trptk
2017

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Lost & Found (Vinyl &...

R.A.R. (Rhapsody Analog Recordings)
2017

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