Unbelievable! | Concert: Aki Takase (piano)

Dance on the keys. Aki Takase once wanted to be a dancer. Fortunately, she became a pianist. The Osaka-born musician set out into the world to revolutionise the musical landscape alongside others of her generation: in Japan, the USA and Europe. Improvisation and openness, curiosity and humour characterise the career of this versatile avant-garde artist. She appeared on the major jazz stages from an early age, playing in New York with John Zorn, in Portugal with Maria João, and in Paris with David Murray. In the 1980s, she married the jazz pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and made Berlin her home. However powerful a furore her piano playing may stir up – with cluster chords, hammered-out dissonances and breakneck runs – it always retains a dance-like lightness. This free expression, combined with her forays into the depths of jazz – to Duke Ellington, Fats Waller or Carla Bley – results in a unique blend. At the age of 78, Aki Takase demonstrates what jazz once was and what jazz can be today.