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Hajime Yoshida

Originally hailing from Ichikawa, Japan, Jazz Guitarist, Hajime Yoshida is one of the most sophisticated guitarists, accompanists and composers in New York City.

Hajime was fascinated by music at a very young age; he had been taking violin lessons from local professionals and had chances to perform recitals before he started playing guitar.

The very first time he touched a guitar was a part of music class in middle school, and his parents gave him his first guitar at the age of 14. 1 year later, he started taking lessons from professional guitar players in Tokyo area. Hajime also started his career as a composer at the same time, and it did not take much time for him to start playing original compositions at venues with his band.

Hajime’s strong passion to music and interest to new sounds led him to United States when he was 18 years old. He started his bachelor’s degree in Jazz Performance at the University of North Texas in 2003; while he was studying at the school, he had a fortunate to play with 3 O’Clock Lab Bad directed by Jay Saunders. Hajime started to be one of the sought-after guitarists in Dallas/ Ft. Worth area music scene before he graduate the school.

In the summer of 2009, him and his musician friends decided to move to New York, drove a moving truck to Brooklyn, NY. After he moved, he has completed a master’s degree at Queens College in the summer of 2011. While he was at school, he studied with; Fred Hamilton, Ari Hoenig, Gilad Hekselman, Jonathan Kreisberg, Johannes Weidenmueller, Antonio Hart, Jeb Patton, and David Berkman.

Hajime has had a chance to perform with great musicians such as Linda Oh, Chris Tordini, David Berkman, Shelly Carrol, Darrel Green, Michael League, Michael Palmer, Dan Loomis (The Wee Trio), Julian Shore, Jonathan Fisher and Petros Klampanis.

While he has been very active as a sideman in New York City, he released his debut CD including all original compositions, “Unlimitation” with Sylvester Onyejiaka on sax, Yuka Tadano on bass and Keita Ogawa on drums in May 2012. Not only he is one of the sought-after guitarists in the city, but also has he been trying and searching very hard for new sounds as a composer.

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Album Review

Hajime Yoshida: Unlimitation

Read "Unlimitation" reviewed by Jack Bowers


As interest in jazz continues to wane in the land of its birth it remains strong elsewhere, especially in Japan, where jazz of all stripes is welcomed with open arms. Although guitarist Hajime Yoshida hails from Ichikawa, Japan, and nurtured his love for the music while there, he presently resides in Brooklyn, NY, of all places, and that is where his debut album, Unlimitation, was recorded in 2012. After moving to the U.S. at age eighteen, Yoshida studied at the ...

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