Ake Kubota - pianist, composer, arranger, lyricist and singer.
Ake, born in Hokkaido, Japan, starts classical piano at the age of 5. After years of private tutorage by Japan’s piano virtuosos, she attends the Musashino Music College in Tokyo, where she majors in piano music, studying works by contemporary classical music composers. Feeling an urge to try out music other than classical, she performs as a keyboard player in rock and fusion jazz bands in her college days. After graduation she steeps herself in various genres of music, namely jazz, Brazilian music, and pop music.
Ake’s musical expressions on the piano reflect the various genres she loves and devotes herself to. She surprises and delights listeners by meticulously drifting away, say from a smooth, soothing romantic sequence, to an almost chaotic yet highly sophisticated and pleasantly impulsive cycle, providing the audience with a sensation of thrilling, mysterious, almost illogical, but nevertheless superb phrasing . This ambiguous musical extravaganza that she creates her fans and fellow musicians call “Ake’s World.”
Ake had released her first CD “Vermilion” (which in Japanese is “Ake –朱,” her first name)in 2003 via a US label. The Japanese CD Journal says, “Ake’s music is very unique in that her initial impression of relaxing smooth jazz gets augmented by stinging unique harmonies, leaving the listener with an exclusive and mysteriously pleasant sensation of Ake’s World.”
In 2006 Ake releases her second CD “Chaotic Simplicity”, recorded by her trio (piano, bass and drums) and featuring vocals by Alina. The musical expressions in this album reflect a blend of harmonies which add sophisticated meaning to a simple framework.
Ake had toured Japanese cities as an orchestral synthesizer player for Disney on Classic in 2002. She had also participated in the recording of Avex IO’s Classic on Bossa CDs, as a keyboard player, arranger and vocalist.
Ake Kubota’s music life evolves around the discovery and realization of musical interpretations and sounds that only she can express.
Konnichiwa... My brand new CD is being released in Japan on November 21st 2009 [which is my birthday!!! Hooray!!]
The CD is called "Funky DL - The Ultimate Collection"
The Album features 2 CD's with 35 Classic jazz hip-hop tracks and brand new and live show songs and also a storybook, including the story of how I met "NUJABES"
And also the story of my experience touring Japan in Fukuoka, Sapporo, Nagoya, Utsunomiya, Tokyo, Osaka, Mito, Gifu, Kyoto, Wackayama, Hamamatsu, Okayama,
If you want to remember all the Funky DL classics, please get the CD. Also check the youtube promotion video
thanks for finding me here! it was nice to see you the other day. I would like to do some project near future with you and I wish I can talk to you more! xoxo
Hey Ake! What a nice surprise to get your add request. And it looks like I am your first comment also. Hope all is going great in Yokohama. It's funny , I was sorting out some boxes at the weekend and I came across the photos of Alina's birthday when I got her all that dinosaur stuff. Ah, nostalgia! Have a good day, and keep in touch, beijos, (as we brasileiros like to say), tchau,
