Shoji Hano

Shoji Hano was born March 1, 1955 in Kokura, Fukuoka, Japan. Hano moved to Kyoto in 1974, and started playing avant-garde jazz. In 1980 he formed the band Odowara, and organized a monthly concert series at Kyoto University which continued for a year. In 1981 he formed the Easy Music Band with Kondo, guitarist Haruhiko Gotsu, and electric bass player Tetsu Yamauchi. At this point in his career, Hano had played with such Japanese musicians as the late alto sax player Kaoru Abe, sax player Mototeru Takagi, and trombonist Masahiko Kono; and non-Japanese musicians like guitarists Henry Kaiser, Eugene Chadbourne and Hans Reichel, reed player Peter Brötzmann, and cellist Tristan Honsinger. When Hano returned to the music scene in 1985 he began to develop his own style, based on the concepts of Shintaido. With Yamauchi and Gotsu he formed the band OPE, which was active from 1986 to 1989. In May 1990 Hano left Japan for the first time, to play in Europe. From June to August he toured through Switzerland, Austria and Germany with Reichel and guitarist Wadi Gysi. Each year from '91 to '94 he and Brötzmann did concert tours in Japan and Germany. They also did a Japan tour in '98. Hano has also toured in the U.S, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia and Lithuania. In 1998 Hano joined the psychedelic rock band High Rise; the other members are Munehiro Narita (guitar) and Asahito Nanjo (bass, vocal). The band (including Hano) toured in the U.S., England and France in October and November, '98.