ArtistInfo

Ryo Kawasaki

eg, g, *1947 JP, Tokyo
Musician / Composer / Producer of Jazz

Ryo Kawasaki (川崎 燎 Kawasaki Ryō, born February 25, 1947) is a jazz fusion guitarist from Tokyo, Japan. He is best known as one of the first musicians to develop and popularise the fusion genre and for helping to develop the guitar synthesizer in collaboration with Roland Corporation and Korg. His album Ryo Kawasaki and the Golden Dragon Live was one of the first all digital recordings and he created the Kawasaki Synthesizer for the commodore 64. During the 1960s, he played with various Japanese jazz groups and also formed his own bands. In the early 1970s, he moved to New York where he settled and worked with Gil Evans, Elvin Jones, Chico Hamilton, Ted Curson, Joanne Brackeen amongst others. In the mid-1980s, Kawasaki drifted out of performing music in favour of writing music software prog

Instruments

• Electric guitar
• Guitar
• Acoustic guitar
• Synthesizer
• Strings

Genres

• Jazz
• R&B/Soul
• Rock
• Electronic
• Dance

Plays With