Masayoshi Takanaka, the 72-year-old Japanese jazz fusion virtuoso, will play his first ever UK solo shows in March, with two nights at Brixton Academy upgraded from a single London date due to overwhelming demand. The guitarist, known for performing on a surfboard-shaped instrument, will also headline an outdoor festival in Crystal Palace park this summer. “I was actually planning to fade out [my career],” he says. “But now I feel like this might be my second coming. My life has changed so much in the last few years.”
Takanaka’s relationship with Britain dates back to 1972, when he was a member of Sadistic Mika Band, the first Japanese rock act to tour the UK as support for Roxy Music. The band appeared on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test, and Takanaka proudly recalls being praised by Jeff Beck. The group’s time in Britain was brief, however, and ended when vocalist Mika Kato chose not to return to Japan amid the breakdown of her marriage to guitarist Kazuhiko Kato. “I’ve not been back to the UK for 50 years,” Takanaka says.
The UK therefore missed the entirety of Takanaka’s hugely successful solo career. His 1976 debut Seychelles helped pioneer Japan’s rock fusion scene, while 1978’s Brasilian Skies, recorded in Rio de Janeiro and Los Angeles, featured Ryuichi Sakamoto and members of Toto. The instrumental Blue Lagoon became a hit single in 1979, and 1982’s Saudade reached No 1 on the Japanese album charts. Takanaka collaborated with Tina Turner and Little Richard, performed a joint concert with Santana at Yokohama baseball stadium, and bought a condominium and cruiser in the Bahamas, where he spent winters making music.
In recent years, Takanaka’s music has found a new audience thanks to YouTube’s algorithm, which began recommending Japanese 70s and 80s jazz and pop to western listeners. The Instagram fan page Takanaka Vibes, created in 2023, has amassed 122,000 followers, while the reissue label Light in the Attic Records licensed his 1979 track Bamboo Vender for its Pacific Breeze compilation of Japanese “city pop”. Last year, Takanaka performed in Los Angeles for the first time in nearly 40 years, after his guitar soloing appeared on the soundtrack to the Dwayne Johnson sports drama The Smashing Machine.
Greg Gouty of Light in the Attic attributes the revival to the music’s encapsulation of Japan’s late-70s and 80s economic boom, a period he describes as a “dreamland” where “everybody’s got work and money”. For Takanaka, the renewed interest is a dramatic turn for a musician who had planned to wind down. “Now,” he says, “I feel like this might be my second coming.”
