Stomu Yamashta
Encyclopedia
Stomu YamashtaStomu Yamashta (born is a Japanese
percussionist, keyboardist and composer
. He is sometimes credited as Stomu Yamash'ta. His father was the band director Kiyoharu Yamashita (1907–1991).
Stomu Yamashta was born in Kyoto
, Japan
, and studied music at Kyoto University
, Juilliard School of Music
, and Berklee College of Music
, and has also lectured in music. In 1972, he brought the Red Buddha Theatre company from Japan to Europe, acting as their director, producer and composer, writing and performing in the multi-media event "The Man From The East", with Morris Pert
's Come To The Edge providing the musical backing.
He was the leader of the supergroup
Go
with Steve Winwood
, Al Di Meola
, Klaus Schulze
, and Michael Shrieve
. He has composed for the British Royal Ballet, and wrote pieces for the David Bowie
film The Man Who Fell to Earth
and performed in Peter Maxwell Davies
's score for Ken Russell
's The Devils
and in John Williams
' score for Robert Altman
's Images
(1972). He has also composed film scores, most notably One by One (1975). His Space Theme was used by the BBC
on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
.
Yamashta has performed and collaborated with numerous artists from around the world, and excerpts of a Stomu Yamashta performance appear in the last episode of Tony Palmer
's All You Need is Love: The Story of Popular Music.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
percussionist, keyboardist and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. He is sometimes credited as Stomu Yamash'ta. His father was the band director Kiyoharu Yamashita (1907–1991).
Stomu Yamashta was born in Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and studied music at Kyoto University
Kyoto University
, or is a national university located in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest Japanese university, and formerly one of Japan's Imperial Universities.- History :...
, Juilliard School of Music
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
, and Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
, and has also lectured in music. In 1972, he brought the Red Buddha Theatre company from Japan to Europe, acting as their director, producer and composer, writing and performing in the multi-media event "The Man From The East", with Morris Pert
Morris Pert
Morris David Brough Pert was a Scottish composer, drummer/percussionist, and pianist who composed in the fields of both contemporary classical and jazz-rock music...
's Come To The Edge providing the musical backing.
He was the leader of the supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
Go
Go (band)
Go was a supergroup conceived in 1976 by Stomu Yamashta , which also included Steve Winwood , Al Di Meola , Klaus Schulze and Michael Shrieve ....
with Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
, Al Di Meola
Al Di Meola
Al Di Meola is an acclaimed American jazz fusion and Latin guitarist, composer, and record producer of Italian origin. With a musical career that has spanned more than three decades, he has become respected as one of the most influential guitarists in jazz to date...
, Klaus Schulze
Klaus Schulze
Klaus Schulze is a German electronic music composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was briefly a member of the electronic bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums released across five decades.-1970s:In...
, and Michael Shrieve
Michael Shrieve
Michael Shrieve is an American drummer, percussionist, and later, an electronic music composer. He is best known as the drummer in Carlos Santana's eponymous band, playing on their first eight albums from 1969 through 1974...
. He has composed for the British Royal Ballet, and wrote pieces for the David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
film The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Man Who Fell to Earth (film)
The Man Who Fell to Earth is a 1976 British science fiction film directed by Nicolas Roeg.The film is based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, about an extraterrestrial who crash lands on Earth seeking a way to ship water to his planet, which is suffering from a severe drought...
and performed in Peter Maxwell Davies
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
's score for Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
's The Devils
The Devils
The Devils is a name for:* The Devils , the 1960 play by John Whiting based on the book The Devils of Loudon by Aldous Huxley* The Devils , the 1971 Ken Russell film...
and in John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
' score for Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
's Images
Images (film)
Images is a 1972 British-American psychological thriller film directed by Robert Altman.-Plot:Wealthy housewife and children's author Cathryn receives a series of disturbing and eerie phone calls in her home in London one dreary night...
(1972). He has also composed film scores, most notably One by One (1975). His Space Theme was used by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series written by Douglas Adams . It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards on global short wave radio on the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the U.S. and CBC Radio in...
.
Yamashta has performed and collaborated with numerous artists from around the world, and excerpts of a Stomu Yamashta performance appear in the last episode of Tony Palmer
Tony Palmer
Tony Palmer is an American football guard in the National Football League who is currently a free agent. The former University of Missouri guard who was selected by the St. Louis Rams. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers after being cut in the 2006 preseason by St. Louis...
's All You Need is Love: The Story of Popular Music.
Discography
- Percussion Recital (1971)
- The World Of Stomu Yamash'ta (1971, live)
- Uzu: The World Of Stomu Yamash'ta 2 (1971, live)
- Metempsychosis (1971, collaboration with Masahiko Sato)
- Red BuddhaRed BuddhaRed Buddha is a 1971 album composed and performed by Japanese percussionist Stomu Yamash'ta, recorded in 1970 and re-released on CD in 2006.-Track listing:Side One# "Red Buddha"...
(1971) - Sunrise From West Sea (1971, live)
- Floating Music (1972)
- ImagesImages (film)Images is a 1972 British-American psychological thriller film directed by Robert Altman.-Plot:Wealthy housewife and children's author Cathryn receives a series of disturbing and eerie phone calls in her home in London one dreary night...
original soundtrack (Robert AltmanRobert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
, 1972), music composed by John WilliamsJohn WilliamsJohn Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
; percussion solos by Stomu Yamashta - Der Langwierige Weg In Die Wohnung Der Natascha Ungeheuer (1972)
- Henze/Takemitsu/Maxwell DaviesPeter Maxwell DaviesSir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
(1972), comprising:- Prison Song (Henze)
- Seasons (Takemitsu)
- Turris Campanarum Sonatinum (Maxwell Davies)
- The Man From The East (1973, soundtrack)
- Freedom Is FrighteningFreedom Is FrighteningFreedom Is Frightening is a 1974 EMI album by the Japanese percussionist, keyboardist and composer Stomu Yamash'ta and his band East Wind. It was recorded in August 1973 at Advision Studios .-Track listing:Side One...
(1973) - One by One (1975, soundtrack)
- Raindog (1975)
- Die Neue Musik Und Ihre Neuesten Entwicklungen (1975), including:
- El CimarrónEl Cimarrón (musical work)El Cimarrón is a composition by the German composer Hans Werner Henze, written when the composer lived in Cuba in 1969-1970. It is subtitled Autobiographie des geflohenen Sklaven Esteban Montejo , and is based around the autobiographical passages recounted by Montejo to Miguel Barnet in 1963...
- El Cimarrón
- GoGo (Go album)Go is the first album by Stomu Yamashta's fusion supergroup Go.- Personnel :*Stomu Yamashta - percussion and keyboards*Steve Winwood - vocals and keyboards *Klaus Schulze - synthesizers*Michele' D'Adamo - guitar*Al Di Meola - lead guitar...
(1976) - Go Live From ParisGo Live from ParisGo Live from Paris is the second album by Go, recorded live in Paris at the Palais Des Sports on the 12th June 1976.- Personnel :*Stomu Yamashta - percussion and keyboards*Steve Winwood - vocals and keyboards*Klaus Schulze - synthesizers...
(1976) - Go TooGo TooGo Too is Go's third album. Stomu Yamashta, who together with Steve Winwood, Michael Shrieve Al Di Meola, Klaus Schulze and others founded the group Go, replaced Steve Winwood, who had left the group, by Jess Roden and modified the style of the music for the album. In addition, Linda Lewis was...
(1977) - Waza + Mujo 7" from:
- Budo: The Art of KillingBudo: The Art of KillingBudo: The Art of Killing is an award winning 1978 Japanese martial arts documentary created and produced by Hisao Masuda and financed by The Arthur Davis Company. Considered a cult classic, the film is a compilation of various Japanese martial art demonstrations by several famous Japanese...
(1978, soundtrack)
- Budo: The Art of Killing
- Iroha-Ten/Chi (1981)
- Iroha-Sui (1982)
- Tempest (1982, soundtrack)
- Iroha-Ka (1983)
- Kukai (1984, soundtrack)
- Sea & Sky (1985)
- Solar Dream, Vol. 2 Fantasy Of Sanukit (1990)
- Solar Dream, Vol. 1 The Eternal Present (1993)
- Solar Dream Vol. 3 Peace And Love (1997)
- A Desire of Beauty and Wonder Stone, Part 1 (1999)
- Listen To The Future, Vol. 1 (2001)
- Tofu (2002, compilation with KodoKodo (taiko group)is a professional taiko drumming troupe. Based on Sado Island, Japan, they have had a role in popularizing taiko drumming, both in Japan and abroad...
, Yoshida BrothersYoshida BrothersThe Yoshida Kyōdai are Japanese musicians and have released several albums under the Domo Records internationally as the Yoshida Brothers....
, others) - Live In Stockholm, Sweden, September 28, 1974 (2005, live)
- Bergmál (2006, collaboration with Ragnhildur Gísladóttir and SjónSjónSigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson , known as Sjón , is an internationally known Icelandic author and poet. His pen name is formed from his given name , and means 'Sight'....
)