Once you’ve heard a handful of licks from the Tokyo-based pianist and producer Kazumi Kaneda, you won’t be able to forget his warm, one-of-a-kind sound and feel. If you're listening to one of Inner Ocean Records’ BLESS compilations or Mecca:83’s seminal Life Sketches album and you hear those minor chords start to jingle around like a set of keys, you know Kazumi is on the track.

Simply put, he’s a visionary jazz pianist who knows how to work with hip-hop material, too, and blend both worlds effortlessly. His phrasing on the piano is so descriptive. With the keys he’s like a poet with a pen, giving life to ideas and feelings with sound. He has a masterful sense for groove, with his phrases curling around the robust hip-hop drum patterns.

Kazumi has been releasing his work for more than seven years, and we caught wind of him in the last two after Hard Light, his second full-length with Inner Ocean Records. Our friends from Calgary have been his greatest sponsor in the western hemisphere, also releasing Beats Note in 2016. Listen through to the end because we saved the best knock for last this weekend. Then stay tuned because Inner Ocean will release Kazumi’s the next full-length on November 22nd.

FOLLOW Kazumi Kaneda: Offical / Bandcamp / Soundcloud / Instagram / Facebook