Sadao Watanabe (musician)

Sadao Watanabe is in charge of visiting professor of Jazz course in Kunitachi College of Music since 2010.

In 1969, Watanabe began working part time as a radio broadcaster, promoting jazz across Japan. From 1972, his programme My Dear Life ran for 20 years. He continued to perform internationally, including performances at Montreux Jazz Festival and Newport Jazz Festival. In 1970, he released his album Round Trip, featuring Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, and Miroslav Vitouš. Watanabe continued performing and recording throughout the 1970s and 1980s, amassing a catalogue of more than 70 albums as leader.

Returning to Tokyo, Watanabe became the director of the new Yamaha Institute of Popular Music, a school which based its curriculum on Berklee's. From 1966 onwards, Watanabe toured Japan and internationally with his own quartet playing bop, Brazilian music, jazz-rock, soul, and pop music. He played with the John Coltrane quintet in Tokyo while the group was touring Japan 1966. By the time Watanabe played at the 1970 Newport Jazz Festival he was a well-known and often highly-regarded jazz performer.

In 1962 he left Japan to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Studying led to a broadened stylistic scope that began to incorporate Brazilian music. During his time in the USA, Watanabe worked with Gary McFarland, Chico Hamilton, and Gábor Szabó.

In 1951, Watanabe moved to Tokyo and began playing the alto saxophone. He started studying the flute in 1953 with Ririko Hayashi from the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. He joined Toshiko Akiyoshi’s Cozy Quartet and began leading the group when Akiyoshi moved to the USA.By 1958 he had performed with leading musicians and quartets. In 1961 Watanabe's first album as a leader, the self-titled Sadao Watanabe, was released.

Sadao Watanabe (渡辺 貞夫, Watanabe Sadao, born 1 February 1933) is a Japanese jazz musician who plays alto saxophone, sopranino saxophone, banjo, and flute. He is known for his bossa nova recordings, although his work encompasses many styles, with collaborations from musicians all over the world.

Watanabe was born on 1 February 1933 in Utsunomiya, Japan. His father, a professional musician, sang and played the biwa. He was attracted to jazz from an early age, in part due to the strong cultural influence stemming from the American post-war presence in Japan. Watanabe learned the clarinet while in high school after convincing his father over the course of six weeks to buy him a second-hand instrument.