Toshinori Kondo

Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
	In concert at Club W71 [de], Weikersheim, 2017
Background information
Born	December 15, 1948; Ehime Prefecture, Japan
Died	October 17, 2020 (aged 71); Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
Genres	Jazz, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz
Occupation(s)	Trumpeter, composer
Instrument	Trumpet

Toshinori Kondo (近藤等則, Kondō Toshinori, 15 December 1948 – 17 October 2020^[1]^[2]) was a Japanese avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter.

Career

Kondo was born in Ehime Prefecture. He attended Kyoto university in 1967, and became close friends with percussionist Tsuchitori Toshiyuki. In 1972 the pair left university, and Toshiyuki went on to work with Peter Brook, while Kondo joined Yosuke Yamashita. In 1978 he moved to New York, and began performing with Bill Laswell, John Zorn, Fred Frith, and Eraldo Bernocchi. A year later he released his first recording, toured Europe with Eugene Chadbourne, and collaborated with European musicians such as Peter Brotzman. Returning to Japan, he worked with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kazumi Watanabe, and Herbie Hancock. In the mid-1980s he began focusing on his own career, blending his avant-garde origins with electronic music. In the 1990s he was part of the collective called Die Like a Dog whose first album Fragments Of Music, Life And Death of Albert Ayler was released in 1994.^[3] In 2002, he worked on an international peace festival in Hiroshima after being approached by the Dalai Lama about organizing one. He was a former member of Praxis. Kondo cooperated with Bill Laswell to make the album Inamorata in 2007.

He founded the band Kondo IMA in 1984. Kondo IMA achieved commercial success but moved to Amsterdam to be alone and to start "Blow the Earth" in 1993.^[3] They started "Blow the Earth in Japan" in the summer of 2007 and ended in the autumn of 2011. The film Blow the Earth in Japan is his first experience as a film director.

Personal life

On October 17, 2020, he died in Kawasaki City, aged 71.^[1]

Discography

As leader or co-leader

Environment for Sextet (Ictus, 1979) with John Zorn, Andrea Centazzo, Eugene Chadbourne, Tom Cora, and Polly Bradfield
Fuigo From a Different Dimension (Bellows, 1979)
Moose and Salmon (Music Gallery, 1979) with Henry Kaiser and John Oswald
Possibilities of the Color Plastic (Bellows, 1979) with Eugene Chadbourne
Protocol (Metalanguage, 1979) with Henry Kaiser and Andrea Centazzo
Artless Sky (Caw, 1980) with John Russell and Roger Turner
The Last Supper (Po Torch, 1981) with Paul Lovens
Imitation of Life (Y, 1981) with Tristan Honsinger, Steve Beresford, and David Toop
Death is Our Eternal Friend (DIW, 1983) with Paul Lovens and Paul Lytton
What Are You Talking About? (DIW, 1983) with Tristan Honsinger, Peter Kowald, and Sabu Toyozumi
China Boogie (Polydor, 1985)
Kamikaze Blow (Alfa, 1989) with IMA
Ki-Oku (Sony, 1996) with DJ Krush
Fear No Fall (Lowlands, 1998) with Jim O'Rourke, Zeena Parkins, David Shea, DJ Low, and Dirk Wachtelaer
Aida's Call (Starlight, 1999) with Kaoru Abe, Motoharu Yoshizawa, and Derek Bailey
Charged (Apollo, 1999) with Eraldo Bernocchi and Bill Laswell
Jazz Bunker (Golden Years, 2000) with Han Bennink and Eugene Chadbourne
Life Space Death (Meta, 2001) with Bill Laswell
The Warriors (Ictus, 2007) with Eugene Chadbourne and Andrea Centazzo
The War Fairy Tales (self-released, 2014)
Typhoon 19 (TK, 2020) with IMA21
The Sea is Rough (Bocian, 2020) with Brom
Renzoku Jump (Metalanguage, 2022) with Henry Kaiser, Greg Goodman and John Oswald
Eternal Triangle (I Dischi Di Angelica, 2022) with Massimo Pupillo and Tony Buck