was a Japanese

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

drummer.

Early life

On April 6, 1937, Otsuka was born in Tokyo, Japan.

Career

Otsuka first began playing professionally with Sadao Watanabe's quartet toward the end of the 1950s. He worked for several years with

Hidehiko Matsumoto Hidehiko "Sleepy" Matsumoto (松本英彦) (October 12, 1926, Okayama – February 29, 2000, Tokyo) was a Japanese jazz saxophonist and bandleader. Matsumoto played bebop in Japan in the late 1940s with the group CB Nine, then joined The Six Jos� ...

in the 1960s, then led his own trio with

Hideo Ichikawa Hideo (ひでお) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Hideo Den (田英夫, 1923–2009), Japanese politician and news presenter * Hideo Fujimoto (藤本英雄, 1918–1997), Japanese baseball player * Hi ...

, in addition to working with

Roy Haynes Roy Owen Haynes (born March 13, 1925) is an American jazz drummer. He is among the most recorded drummers in jazz. In a career lasting over 80 years, he has played swing, bebop, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz and is considered a pioneer of jazz ...

. He was a member of the Four Drums ensemble which did a tour of Japan in 1970;

Jack DeJohnette Jack DeJohnette (born August 9, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. Known for his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, John Abercrombie, ...

, Roy Haynes, and

Mel Lewis Melvin Sokoloff (May 10, 1929 – February 2, 1990), known professionally as Mel Lewis, was an American jazz drummer, session musician, professor, and author. He received fourteen Grammy Award nominations. Biography Early years Lewis was ...

were the other drummers in this group. Otsuka was frequently tapped as a percussionist for Japanese tours of international musicians in the 1970s and 1980s, such as

Richie Beirach Richard Alan Beirach (born 23 May 1947) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Early life Beirach was born in New York City. He initially studied both classical music and jazz. While still attending high school, he took lessons from pianist L ...

Elvin Jones Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such widely celebrate ...

Kenny Kirkland Kenneth David Kirkland (September 28, 1955 – November 12, 1998) was an American pianist and keyboardist. Biography Early life Born in Brooklyn, New York, United States, Kirkland was six when he first sat down at a piano keyboard. After years ...

John Scofield John Scofield (born December 26, 1951), sometimes referred to as "Sco", is an American guitarist and composer whose music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention in the ...

Nana Vasconcelos Nana, Nanna, Na Na or NANA may refer to: People and fictional characters * Nana (given name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Nana (surname), including a list of people and characters with the surname * Nana ( ...

Miroslav Vitous Miroslav may refer to: * Miroslav (given name), a Slavic masculine given name * ''Young America'' (clipper) or ''Miroslav'', an Austrian clipper ship in the Transatlantic case oil trade * Miroslav (Znojmo District), a town in the Czech Republic S ...

Phil Woods Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. Biography Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began ...

, and

Reggie Workman Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey. Career Early in his career, Workman worke ...

. He was also the founder of the trio We Three, with Hiroyuki Takamoto and Hideaki Kanazawa.

Death

He died on March 10, 2020, in a hospital in

Suginami, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Suginami City in English. As of June 1, 2022, Suginami has an estimated population of 588,354 and a population density of 17,274 persons per km2. The total area is 34.06 km2 ...

at the age of 82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otsuka, George 1937 births 2020 deaths Japanese jazz drummers Musicians from Tokyo