Kota Sawaguchi Trio
Biography Kota Sawaguchi Trio
Keigo Hirakawa
Born in Japan and raised in the United States, Keigo Hirakawa is a jazz pianist who can be heard throughout the US and internationally. He has appeared on stage alongside the likes of Donald Byrd, Joe Lovano, JD Allen, Duane Eubanks, and Carla Cook. Trained in New York City and at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, he was a student of many world-renowned jazz artists, including Stephen Scott, Cecil McBee, Danilo Perez, Alan Pasqua, Ralph Peterson, Bob Moses, and Jerry Bergonzi. Hirakawa has released two critically acclaimed CDs as a (co-) leader, "Hessler-Cabrillo Run Down" (2010) with saxophonist Joshua Smith and "And Then There Were Three" (2015). He has also appeared as a sideman on Brandon Coleman's "Infinite Loop" (2017). Hirakawa was previously the acting director of the Cornell University Jazz Ensembles and he is currently on faculty at the University of Dayton.
Furuto Koshino
Born June 20, 1988 in Ota-ku, Tokyo, Furuto Koshino grew up surrounded by music with parents who loved classical music. Inspired by the Oscar Peterson Trio, he began playing acoustic bass and electric bass during high school. Koshino attended Graduate School of Science and Technology at Sophia University, during which time he became active in the university jazz ensembles as well as at jazz clubs throughout Tokyo. He studied classical bowing techniques with Yasukazu Morizono. After graduation, he has pursued a professional career in music. As a bassist facilitating on both acoustic and electric instruments, Koshino covers a wide range of genres, including jazz, fusion, pops, R&B, gospel, and Latin music.
Kota Sawaguchi
Born in Tokyo in 1979, Kota Sawaguchi started playing drums in high school. He graduated from Sophia University Faculty of Humanities in Department of Philosophy, where he joined Yuji Ota (g), Kosuke Hagiwara (g), Yasuo Yamato (b), Furuto Koshino (b) in jazz ensembles. He has worked as a roadie for the jazz drummer Dairiki Hara and studied drums with Yusuke Nagano, Norio Watanabe, and Dairiki Hara. Since graduation, Sawaguchi ran a jazz club UNA MAS in Mitaka with his mother, where through his exposure to a variety of musicians he developed his own musical identity. During this period, he performed regularly at jazz venues such as UNA MAS, Kichijoji Sometime, and Numabukuro Organ Jazz Club. After a brief hiatus in Hakodate, Sawaguchi returned to Tokyo and remains active in the music scene, including his continued involvement at UNA MAS.