(born December 15, 1945 in

Kyoto, Japan Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the city ...

) is a retired 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 ...

singer.

Biography

Kimiko was born in Kyoto, Japan in 1945. She first became interested in jazz at the age of 13 after hearing Chris Connor's song "All About Ronnie" on the radio. At age 16 she moved to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and started performing in jazz clubs. Her first recording was with Japanese pianist Yuzuru Sera in 1968 Kimiko's first album as a solo artist was entitled ''Just Friends'' in 1970. In the following year, Kimiko sang the advertising jingle of "

Cup Noodles Cup noodle is a registered trademark of Nissin Foods and is known as precooked instant noodle with flavoring powder and/or seasoning sauce sold in a polystyrene, polyethylene, or paper cup. The flavoring can be in a separate packet or loose in t ...

," a brand of the world's first

instant In physics and the philosophy of science, instant refers to an infinitesimal interval in time, whose passage is instantaneous. In ordinary speech, an instant has been defined as "a point or very short space of time," a notion deriving from its ety ...

cup noodle Cup noodle is a registered trademark of Nissin Foods and is known as precooked instant noodle with flavoring powder and/or seasoning sauce sold in a polystyrene, polyethylene, or paper cup. The flavoring can be in a separate packet or loose in t ...

ramen is a Japanese dish, Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese ...

. In June 1972, she signed on an exclusive contract with

CBS/Sony , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

, and recorded ''Satin Doll'' with support of

Gil Evans Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role ...

during Evans' first visitation to Japan. Later she recorded many albums in collaboration with musicians in the jazz field, such as

Teo Macero Attilio Joseph "Teo" Macero (October 30, 1925 – February 19, 2008) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer. He was a producer at Columbia Records for twenty years. Macero produced Miles Davis' ''Bitches Brew'', and Dave ...

Lee Konitz Leon Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz ...

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...

, Paulinho Da Costa,

Billy Higgins Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop. Biography Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, be ...

Cedar Walton Cedar Anthony Walton Jr. (January 17, 1934 – August 19, 2013) was an American hard bop jazz pianist. He came to prominence as a member of drummer Art Blakey's band, The Jazz Messengers, before establishing a long career as a bandleader and com ...

and

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

. In the 1980s, Kimiko stopped performing and later moved into the jewelry design business. Kimiko was married to drummer

Hiroshi Murakami is a Japanese jazz drummer. Murakami began playing percussion as a teenager, and was playing in a group with Takehiro Honda at age 19. He would go on to play with Masabumi Kikuchi, Kosuke Mine, and Sadao Watanabe in the 1970s, in addition to dr ...

. In 1990 she married

Richard Rudolph Richard James Rudolph (born October 27, 1946) is an American songwriter, musician, music publisher, and producer. Life and career Richard Rudolph is the son of Muriel Eileen (Neufeld) and Sidney J. Rudolph. His grandfather, Julius Abraham Rud ...

and currently resides in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

and

, Japan.

Discography

*1968: ''The Modern Playing Mate'' (Union) – Trio introducing Kimiko Kasai *1970: ''Just Friends'' (London) – Live *1971: ''Yellow Carcass in the Blue'' ( TBM) – with Kosuke Mine Quartet *1971: ''One for Lady'' (

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

) – with

Mal Waldron Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron (August 16, 1925 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Wa ...

*1972: ''Umbrella'' (

) – works of

Hiroshi Kamayatsu was a Japanese singer and guitarist born in Tokyo. Profile "Monsieur" was a founding member of bands The Spiders, Vodka Collins, and also a solo act. In 2001 he had a reunion with some former members of The Spiders, as the band Sans Filtre. ...

*1972: ''

Satin Doll "Satin Doll" is a jazz standard written by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Written in 1953, the song has been recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, 101 Strings, Terry Callier, and Nancy Wilson. Its chord progression is ...

'' (CBS/Sony) – with

Orchestra *1973: ''What’s New'' (CBS/Sony) *1974: ''In Person'' (CBS/Sony) – Featuring

Oliver Nelson Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album '' The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signifi ...

*1974: ''Thanks Dear'' (CBS/Sony) *1974: ''Kimiko Is Here'' (CBS/Sony) – with

Trio *1975: ''This Is My Love'' (CBS/Sony) – produced by

, with

and

*1976: ''We Can Fall in Love'' (CBS/Sony) – produced by Teo Macero *1977: ''Tokyo Special'' (CBS/Sony) *1978: ''Round and Round'' (CBS/Sony) *1979: ''

Butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

'' (CBS/Sony) – with

. Reissued (Be With Records, 2018). *1982: ''Kimiko'' (CBS/Sony) *1982: ''Love Connection'' (CBS/Sony) *1984: ''Love Talk'' (CBS/Sony) *1984: ''New Pastel'' (CBS/Sony) *1985: ''Watching You'' (CBS/Sony) *1986: ''My One and Only Love'' (CBS/Sony) *1987: ''Perigo a Noite'' (Eastworld) *1990: ''Kimiko Kasai'' (Kitty) – with Cedar Walton Trio

Filmography

* ''Hairpin Circus'' (1972) as Rie Mizukami

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasai, Kimiko 1945 births Japanese women jazz singers Living people Japanese jewellery designers Musicians from Kyoto Prefecture 20th-century Japanese women singers 20th-century Japanese singers