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Shunzo Ohno was born on 22 March 1949 in Gifu, Japan, a city on Honshu
20 miles (30 km) n.w. of Nagoya. He started playing trombone at age 13.
This was the only instrument available at the school. He enjoyed playing
brass and was able to obtain a trumpet in school at age 17 in Gifu. He had
not had private lessons until age 18, when he was taught by Mr Imaida.
He was inspired to play by seeing a movie film called "Boy With Trumpet". It is the story of a small boy who lived in the mountains whose family was poor. He loved the trumpet but his father saw no value in it and one day crushed it. The boy continued to play it despite it being bent. One day his sister became ill. The boy stood on the train tracks and plays his trumpet to stop the train. In his early days he listened to Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Brown, Art Blakey, Louis Armstrong, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Miles Davis. His first music writing was for a 51 piece High School Orchestra. Nowadays he listens to classical artists aswell as jazz. |
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In Japan he joined Keiichiro Ebihara and His Lobsters in 1968,aged 18. He played with Sound Limited and Soul Media before joining the George Otsuka Quintet from 1971 to 1973. He played on two George Otsuka albums, then his own album called Falter Out, before moving to New York in 1973 at the suggestion of Art Blakey at age 24. |
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In USA he played with Art Blakey and Jazz Messengers through to 1974.
He played with Roy Haynes and Norman Connors (from Aug 24th 1974) in New
York. He recorded with Machito and His Salsa Big Band in 1982. He performed
at the North Sea Festival in The Hague in 1982 and in 1983 he played at
The Lugano 'Estival in Italy with Machito. In 1983 he joined Gil Evans
Orchestra and stayed until 1989. In 1985, 86 and 87 he spent time touring
Japan with Super Sounds ,(with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Larry
Coryell). February 2002 Shunzo Ohno was recently honored by the Universal Jazz
Coalition and New York Jazz Center. Mr. Ohno received the Asian American
Jazz Connection Award for his artistic achievements that have contributed
to bridging Asian and American societies. For Mr. Ohno, who overcame a
serious traffic accident in 1989 that broke his front teeth and split
and tore muscle in his lips and then overcame throat cancer in 1995, the
award symbolizes a "victory in life" he achieved through surmounting
hardships and struggles. He attributes his success to the encouragement
of his many friends and mentor in life. |
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Click
here for a picture by Francesco Santucci |
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