FM
Biography
Akira Sakata (Japanese: 坂田明) was born in Kure-city, Hiroshima in 1945. Studied marine biology at Hiroshima university. In 1969 he formed a group Saibo-bunretsu (Cell fission) in Tokyo , and was also performing with various free-jazz musicians. He joined Yamashita Yosuke Trio from 1972 till 1979. In 1980 he formed his trio and its three month tour in Japan elicited a great public response. Its performance during this period was released as a live album POCHI.
Besides the activity with his trio, he formed Wha-ha-ha,which gained much attention as a collective group of musicians with strong personality from different fields, and its debut album Shinutokiwa betsu created quite a sensation in the music world in Japan. In May he did two month tour in Europe with his regular trio. And in November he appeared in Berlin Jazz Festival 1981 with newly formed Sakata Orchestra which he formed with handpicked musicians. They were very successful in the Festival, which Lounge Lizards, James Blood Ulmer, Defunkt, Material, etc., also appeared. Its performance was recorded in the album Berlin-28.
