A Japanese legend that Kyoto is proud of

Yutaka Terai. Born in Kyoto in 1933. Will be 92 years old in 2025.

A legendary guitarist in the Japanese jazz world.

In his second year of junior high school, he was influenced by his older brother and built a vacuum tube amplifier. He was glued to the radio and became familiar with American music. In his first year of high school, he built a steel guitar.

In his second year of high school, he began performing professionally every Wednesday at the Occupation Forces Non-Commissioned Officers' Club near Kyoto University. It was a dance band.

The band was a Hawaiian band with ukulele, but they played all kinds of hit songs at the time, from jazz to tango to Latin, on steel guitar. The band, which played the latest hits on the charts in a jazz style, was well received, thanks to the "Hit Kit" and "Songfolio" that American officers gave them every week.

At the Kyoto club "Prunier", I started playing guitar in Akira Muraoka's (vibraphone) band because the guitarist at the time was going to Tokyo. The first song I played in the George Shearing style (piano trio with vibraphone and guitar playing the melody in unison) was "La La Viove Birdland". At that time, the rule was that each song should be about 3 minutes long.

Around 1950, when he graduated from high school, he played in all kinds of places, from dance halls to jazz cafes, such as the Metro, Yasaka Kaikan, Gion Kaikan, Bellamy, and Osome. From the late 1950s to the 1960s, Bunny Kessel, Jimmy Rainey, and Herb Ellis were his idols, who were popular at the time. After that, Kenny Burrell and Jim Hall became popular, and he felt that he liked the sounds of Stan Getz and Paul Daysmont, and he became interested in the neat sound known as the "Tristano school."

Around 1958, he joined the "Tadao Kitano & the Arrow Jazz Orchestra (AJO)," the exclusive band of "Club Arrow," the most prestigious nightclub in Kita, Osaka at the time. Although they played all kinds of music, Terai's desire to play jazz and his talent were recognized, and at the end of the stage, he played jazz with his favorite small band, including Munetaka Kiyohiro (trombone).

Yutaka Terai, who embodies the sound of the glamorous era of jazz and live bands, has an endless supply of anecdotes. One story is of how members of Miles' band joined in while he was playing, and how he developed a friendship with Al Foster (drums) and Dave Liebman (saxophone). Another is of how Pat Metheny, who was in his 20s around the time he released American Garage, showed up and performed with him. He wouldn't let go, and played jazz standards for an extended period, and then said, "Standards are good, too," before leaving. These are just a few of the stories.

Yutaka Terai's first album as leader was "OLD&NEW" which was released on March 27th, 1998, at the age of 64.

Yutaka Terai says, "I learned to play the guitar by watching others and just pushing myself. I think it's good to start with an idea of what music, especially jazz, is like.

I think that I have been performing music in search of its aroma. Amateurs have their own taste. Music has no relation to genre. If I were to travel around the world, I would like to travel to taste the good aromas of the world.

When I told Terai, "Recently, someone who watched your video on YouTube wrote that your guitar smells like maple syrup," he replied with a sentimental look on his face, "I see."

I hope you stay healthy and happy forever. Please tell me about the deep flavor of maple syrup.