Miyazaki Jazz Connection Members

Yukari Nakayama

Born in Saga Prefecture. Graduated from the School of Education at Hiroshima University, majoring in music, and studied trumpet with Hiroki Yamashiro and Minoru Shiraishi. She has performed as a solo and ensemble trumpeter in the Agency for Cultural Affairs' arts program for children, at the Miyazaki International Music Festival and elsewhere. She currently teaches trumpet in Yamaha's music lessons for adults and is a member of the Phoenix JAZZ Orchestra.

Yasuno Katsuki

Born in Miyazaki Prefecture. She took up the euphonium in the wind band at Miyazaki Nihon University Junior High School, then studied classical music as a euphonium major at Kunitachi College of Music. She later turned to jazz, taught herself to play it, and performed in Kyushu and Tokyo before moving to the United States. She earned a master's degree from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, The City University of New York, where she received the Jimmy Heath Scholarship and the Marvin Hamlisch Scholarship, given to outstanding students. While living in New York, she performed with Claudio Roditi (trumpet), Roswell Rudd (trombone), Karl Berger (piano) and others across many genres, and also taught music at Keio Academy of New York. She moved back to Miyazaki in 2016 and in 2019 founded the Miyazaki Jazz Organization, where she plans and runs events that use jazz to bring energy to Miyazaki.

Natsuki Kurogi

Born in Miyazaki City in 1981. Graduated from Miyazaki Gakuen High School (formerly Miyazaki Girls' High School) and Miyazaki Gakuen Junior College (formerly Miyazaki Women's Junior College). She attended Yamaha Music School from the age of four and studied classical piano for about 14 years, until she finished high school. In her second year of junior high school, a Bill Evans album her father gave her for her birthday moved her deeply and led her to jazz piano. Now Vice Representative of the Miyazaki Jazz Organization, she performs widely, from live music venues to concerts for children and at schools. Valuing the expressive communication of jazz, her motto is to share "music you can watch, listen to and truly enjoy."

Yusuke Yanagita

Born in 1987 in Mimata, Miyazaki Prefecture. At Senzoku Gakuen College of Music he studied guitar with Yoshihiro Arita and Jun Kajiwara, as well as music theory, composition and arranging. As a student he led his own band, played background music at hotels and cafes, and supported new singers, among other work. In 2010 he graduated at the top of the jazz course at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, then worked mainly around Tokyo and Kanagawa in live performance, recording sessions and composition. In 2013 he joined the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and served for two years and nine months at Camp Kengun. In 2016 he resumed his music career, now based in Miyazaki. He is a part-time instructor in the music course of Miyazaki Gakuen High School (guitar and sound production) and teaches guitar and ukulele at Yamaha Music School.

Yota Sakamoto

Born in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture. He studied with Koichi Osamu and Yasuhiko "Hachi" Sato. He began performing around Miyakonojo while still in high school, then entered the jazz course at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. Now based in Miyakonojo, he composes and arranges, performs in Miyazaki and beyond, and teaches the next generation, including performances at nurseries, kindergartens and schools. He has taken part in the music education programs TORIHADA LABO, Baby Jazz and Natural Beat. For the theater, he wrote the music for The Threepenny Opera, Kyabetsu-kun and Konsui, directed by Tomoyuki Nagayama; Hinata Ryokosha's Hinata, Nihongo o Utau Vol. 1; and Kitto Antigone, from the Shin Kabocha to Imogara Monogatari series, directed by Hiromi Tateyama. In 2019 he released his first album, Cat in the silkhat, inspired by picture books.

Hirofumi Katsuki

Born in Miyazaki Prefecture. He took up the drums seriously after high school, when he went abroad to study, and entered Berklee College of Music in Boston on a scholarship. After graduating he worked in New York and studied with Ari Hoenig. Back in Japan, he played mainly in the Kanto region with the Fumio Karashima Trio, the Yoshio Otomo Quartet and others, and appeared at UMK Phoenix Jam Night in 2007 and 2015. Now based in Miyazaki, he performs across Japan and is the owner of and an instructor at Miyazaki MusicTech Studio. He has performed with Fumio Karashima, Tetsuro Kawashima, Koichi Osamu, Seiji Tada, TOKU, Takana Miyamoto and Yosuke Onuma, among others.