Kaoru Abe
Japanese free jazz saxophonist (1949–1978)
title: "Kaoru Abe" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1949-births", "japanese-jazz-saxophonists", "avant-garde-saxophonists", "free-jazz-saxophonists", "1978-deaths", "musicians-from-kawasaki,-kanagawa", "diw-records-artists", "p.s.f.-records-artists", "20th-century-japanese-musicians", "20th-century-japanese-saxophonists", "drug-related-deaths-in-japan", "nobusiness-records-artists"] description: "Japanese free jazz saxophonist (1949–1978)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaoru_Abe" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Japanese free jazz saxophonist (1949–1978) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Kaoru Abe |
| background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| landscape | |
| native_name | 阿部 薫 |
| native_name_lang | jpn |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Nakano, Tokyo, Japan |
| genre | Free jazz, avant-garde |
| occupation | Musician |
| instrument | Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Harmonica, Guitar |
| years_active | |
| label | DIW |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = Kaoru Abe | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | image = | image_size = | landscape = | alt = | caption = | native_name = 阿部 薫 | native_name_lang = jpn | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = | birth_place = Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan | death_date = | death_place = Nakano, Tokyo, Japan | genre = Free jazz, avant-garde | occupation = Musician | instrument = Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Harmonica, Guitar | years_active = | label = DIW | website = Kaoru Abe (May 3, 1949 – September 9, 1978) was a Japanese avant-garde alto saxophonist. Self-taught at a young age, Abe performed with notables such as Motoharu Yoshizawa, Takehisa Kosugi, Yosuke Yamashita, Derek Bailey, and Milford Graves, although he generally performed solo. He was married to the author Izumi Suzuki, and was a nephew of singer Kyu Sakamoto. He was portrayed in Kōji Wakamatsu's film Endless Waltz by novelist and punk rock singer Kō Machida.
Personal life
Abe dropped out of high school in 1967, at 17 years of age, to focus on perfecting his playing, and in 1968, he did his first performance, at a jazz spot named Oleo in Kawasaki. In 1970, he met Masayuki Takayanagi. in 1971, he met Izumi Suzuki, and in 1973, they married. In 1976, they had a daughter. However, in 1977, they divorced.
Career
Abe was prolific, appearing almost every day at jazz spots and concerts. His library consists almost entirely of archival and live recordings, however he did record in a studio.
In his later years, Abe would begin playing different instruments. In 1976-1978 to be specific, were his years of most exploration. However, there were instances of him playing harmonica in 1970-1971. He also played bass clarinet all the way throughout his career.
Death
Abe died from Bromisoval overdose in 1978, causing an acute gastric perforation.
References
- Yuko Morita (ed.). Abe Kaoru march 1980. Tokyo: Bunyusha, 1994 (Japanese)
- Soejima Teruto. Nihon furii jazu shi (日本フリージャズ史, The History of Japanese Free Jazz). Tokyo: Seidosha, 2002 (Japanese)
References
- Sugiyama, Kazunori. (2002). "The new Grove dictionary of jazz". Grove's Dictionaries Inc..
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::