Japan Jazz Nights: Celebrating 50 Years of Australia–Japan Friendship — Four Leading Artists from Japan’s Contemporary Jazz Scene to Perform Across Seven Australian Cities

BIGYUKI is a New York-based keyboardist, composer and producer. He began playing the piano at the age of six and started his career as a session musician while studying at Berklee College of Music. After relocating to New York, he has collaborated with artists including Lauryn Hill, Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper and J. Cole. He also contributed to A Tribe Called Quest's final album as both a performer and songwriter. Acclaimed for his distinctive musical voice that seamlessly bridges jazz, hip-hop and electronic music, BIGYUKI continues to captivate audiences at major festivals and concert stages around the world. Japan Jazz Nights will include performances by BIGYUKI, joined by Randy Runyon (guitar) and Jharis Yokley (drums).

STEREO CHAMP are a band led by guitarist and composer INOUE May. Working from sharp rhythms and improvisation, they make music in which structure and freedom arrive at the same moment. Most of the repertoire is co-written by Inoue and bassist YAMAMOTO Ren. Within these carefully designed structures, each player's choices and responses accumulate, and the music is remade on the spot every time. The line-up is INOUE May (guitar), YAMAMOTO Ren (bass), RUIKE Shinpei (trumpet), WATANABE Shota (piano, keyboards, synthesiser, kettle), FUKUMORI Yasushi (drums) and James MACAULAY (trombone). Rooted in jazz but never confined by it, their music is where beat, texture and improvisation intersect — and it comes into its own on stage. STEREO CHAMP play music that can only exist in that one moment.

Tenors In Chaos are a supergroup fronted by three tenor saxophonists working at the forefront of the Japanese jazz scene: KUGA Yu, NISHIGUCHI Akihiro and BABA Tomoaki. Kuga graduated top of his class from Berklee College of Music and has since ranged from Mrs. GREEN APPLE to ONISHI Junko, while leading the twelve-piece orchestra he writes and arranges for. Nishiguchi fronts his own band FOTOS and is among the most trusted players in the scene. Baba, who made his major-label debut on Universal Music, continues to build momentum. Behind these three very different voices are David BRYANT (piano), SUGAWA Takashi (bass) and ODAGIRI Kazu (drums). The band formed in Kobe in December 2021 and began in earnest in 2023 under trumpeter KURODA Takuya, who also gave them their name. They released Chaos on Kuroda's aTak Records that November, followed by More Chaos in 2025. Their Blue Note Tokyo debut sold out immediately, and they have since supported KNOWER in Japan and played festivals around the country.

UMEI Misaki was born in Hyogo in 2002. She began piano at four and the Electone at six, starting to compose at the same time, and went on to study composition at Tokyo College of Music. A pianist, electronic producer and singer, she moves freely between acoustic ensembles and electronic production. In 2025 she was named one of 25 artists representing Japan in Rolling Stone Japan's Future of Music. That July she released her first solo album, Asleep Above Creatures, on her own label .plum(es). Buoyant piano trios, finely worked string arrangements and electronica carrying her own voice sit together across the record — a vivid demonstration of her range. The album was nominated for the APPLE VINEGAR -Music Award- 2026, the prize founded by GOTOH Masafumi of ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION. On stage her reach has been just as wide. In February 2025 she joined Geordie Greep (formerly of black midi) as a member of his Japan tour, and in July she played ROOKIE A GO-GO at FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL '25. In April 2026 she gave her first solo headline show at Shibuya WWW.