Ryo Fukui

Ryo Fukui at the piano, performing at The Glee

Ryo Fukui was a Japanese jazz pianist based in Sapporo. He was born in 1948 in Biratori, Hokkaido. He played regularly at the Slowboat jazz club.^[1] Fukui died of a malignant lymphoma on March 15, 2016.^[2]

He self-taught himself the piano from the age of 22 (1970), releasing his first album six years later, Scenery, and his second album the year after. He continued improving his skills over the following years in live performance, often appearing in a trio and playing at the Shinjuku Pit Inn, Kichijoji Sometime jazz club and the Jazz Inn Lovely in Nagoya. A third album, My Favourite Tune, was released in 1995, followed by In New York four years later.^[3]

Fukui received the Sapporo Culture Encouragement Prize in 2012.

Discography

Albums

• 1976 Scenery
• 1977 Mellow Dream
• 1995 My Favourite Tune
• 1999 In New York
• 2015 A Letter From Slowboat

References