Yutaka Shiina (椎名 豊, Shiina Yutaka, born 23 September 1964) is a Japanese jazz pianist and composer.

Early life

Shiina was born in Tokyo on 23 September 1964.^[1] He had piano lessons from the age of three.^[1] From 1982 he studied composition at the Kunitachi College of Music; while still a student, he became a professional jazz pianist.^[1]

Later life and career

Shiina joined the bands of Lionel Hampton and Vincent Herring for their 1989 tours of Japan.^[1] In the following year he became part of Roy Hargrove's quartet.^[1] Shiina was a founding member of the Jazz Networks, and led this band from 1992.^[1] He formed his own trio in 1994, initially with bassist Reginald Veal and drummer Masahiko Osaka.^[1] This band recorded, as did later versions that contained Veal and Herlin Riley, then Christian McBride and Clarence Penn.^[1]

In 1996 the pianist toured Japan with trumpeter Duško Gojković and Europe with drummer Elvin Jones' Jazz Machine.^[1] In 2007 Shiina co-led a tour of the UK with trumpeter Damon Brown.^[2] The two played together in the UK again, under the leadership of Brown and saxophonist Steve Grossman, in 2012.^[3]

Playing style

John Fordham of The Guardian compared Shiina with pianist Wynton Kelly and commented that Shiina "keeps his virtuosity throttled back and maintains a hip expressiveness by letting insinuations, nuances and implied swing, and the subtle tick of the rhythm section do much of the work."^[2]

Discography

An asterisk (*) after the year indicates that it is the year of release.

As leader/co-leader

As sideman