アーティストプロフィール

家にあったアップライト・ピアノを玩具がわりに触り始めたことがきっかけで6歳からピアノを習い始める。クラシック・ピアノを学ぶ中で様々なコンクールに出場し、優秀な成績を収め、高校卒業後に奨学金を獲得しアメリカの名門音楽大学“バークリー音楽院”へ入学。入学を機にジャズの理論や演奏法を学んだ。

同級生には、グラミー賞最優秀新人賞を獲得したベーシスト/ヴォーカリストのエスペランサ（・スポルディング）や、故プリンス、トム・ヨークらとも共演を重ねてきた新鋭トランペッター＝クリスチャン・スコット、ハービー・ハンコック、パット・メセニーといったジャズ界の大御所から絶大な信頼を得ている名門ブルーノート・レーベル所属のドラマー＝ケンドリック・スコットといった有名アーティストがおり、「圧倒的な天才を目の当たりにして自信を無くした時期もあった」が「ミュージシャンとして生きていくことが自分にとってやりたいことと思えるようになったのはバークリー在学中だった」 と本人も回顧している。
在学中からボストンのジャズ・クラブで活動したほか、教会音楽へも興味を持ち始め、教会へも演奏活動の場を広げた。

尊敬するミュージシャンのアドバイスもあり、その後いよいよニューヨークへ進出。進出直後は中々仕事に恵まれなかったが、ほどなくニューヨークを拠点にアメリカのヒップホップ・シーンをけん引する大御所アーティスト＝タリブ・クウェリと、ネオ・ソウル界で活躍しているシンガー＝ビラルのバンドへの加入しニューヨークのシーンでその認知度を上げていった。特にビラルのバンドでは、グラミー賞も受賞し、ヒップホップとジャズを横断するそのユニークなスタイルで絶大な人気を誇るロバート・グラスパーとも共演。ジャズ・シーンにおいてもその存在感を強めていった。

その後ジャズ界で最も権威ある賞である“セロニアス・モンク・コンペティション”で優勝し、ジャズ・シーンにおいて新たなスターといわれているベーシスト＝ベン・ウィリアムスのアルバムや、デヴィッド・ボウイのシングル「Sue」やブラッド・メルドーとのデュオ“メリアナ”などなど様々なプロジェクトで話題となったジャズ・ドラマー＝マーク・ジュリアナのデビュー作『My Life Starts Now』などへも参加。そのような活動が評価され2016年には大手ジャズ専門誌の『JAZZ TIMES』で読者投票のキーボード奏者部門でハービー・ハンコック、チック・コリア、ロバート・グラスパーと並んで入賞するという快挙を達成した。

またジャズ・シーンだけでなく、R&BやHipHopのシーンでも活躍しているBIGYUKIは、長年レコーディングなどへ協力してきたHipHopのレジェンドであるQティップが所属するグループ＝ア・トライブ・コールド・クエストが2016年11月にリリースした新作にして最終アルバム（メンバーであるファイフ・ドーグが2016年3月に逝去したため、実質ラスト・アルバムと称されている）『We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service』に8曲ミュージシャンとして参加し、3曲Qティップと楽曲を共作、そして1曲楽曲を提供。この作品が全米アルバム・チャート1位を獲得し、オノ・ヨーコ&ジョン・レノン『ダブル・ファンタジー』以来36年ぶり、日本人2人目となる全米1位作品参加の日本人となった。

さらにジェイ・Zが立ち上げたレーベル“ロック・ネイション”の契約第1号アーティストとしてデビューし、ケンドリック・ラマーと並んで現在HipHopシーンで最も注目されるアーティスト/プロデューサー＝J. Coleの2016年リリースの最新作『4 Your Eyes Only』にもミュージシャンとして参加。同作も全米1位を獲得。日本人としては初めて全米1位2作品に参加するという快挙を達成した。

さらにはアメリカCBSの人気トーク番組“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”のハウスバンドに抜擢され様々なアーティストと共演を果たしつつ、今年2月には黒人文化を発信するコミュニティ＝Afropunkが主催した、ブラック・ミュージックの聖地“アポロ・シアター”でのコンサートで、ロバート・グラスパーを筆頭に数多くの黒人ミュージシャンが参加した中ただ1人、黒人以外のアーティストとして参加するなど、日本人ながらブラック・ミュージック・シーンの旗手ともいえる活躍を見せる、ジャズ～ソウル～ヒップホップが交差するニューヨークのミュージック・シーンで“現在最も注目されているアーティスト”だ。

Artist Profile

Masayuki Hirano - better known as BIGYUKI - is a ground-breaking songwriter and virtuoso keyboard player who blends jazz, soul, hip-hop and electronica to create a sound that’s wholly his own. Alongside releasing his own inimitable music, BIGYUKI is highly sought-after as a performer and collaborator by the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, Kamasi Washington and Lauryn Hill. “I made my name as a session player in New York, where I was known for keeping my feet in every genre that I love,” he explains. “My own music is a collage, but it definitely has a groove. I want my music to stimulate your mind and move your lower body.”

Born in Kobe, Japan in 1981, BIGYUKI grew up thinking of his mother’s piano as a “big wooden toy.” He was classically trained as a pianist from a young age, performing publicly and winning national awards, but what he really remembers from that time is his first intoxicating taste of how it feels to create music out of silence. “I would experience a hyper-focused mode,” he recalls. “It would feel like I was really in the moment, but at the same time like there was another ‘me’ watching over me. I guess people say you’re ‘in the zone’, but I didn’t have the words for it when I was young. I knew I wanted to tap into this world as much as I could, and that music was my medium.”

After turning 18, BIGYUKI left Japan to take up a scholarship at the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. It would be an education in more ways than one. At the same time he was immersing himself in jazz piano and learning gospel organ, BIGYUKI was also inspired by his fellow students and their dedication to their craft. “It was shocking to me to meet people my age who knew what they wanted to do with their lives,” he says with a laugh. “I could have said: ‘Damn, am I shit? Should I just give up and be a happy villager?’, but for me seeing high art being done by people at such a young age made me really happy. I realised that was a state of life I wanted to achieve.”

The musical education BIGYUKI received in Boston extended well beyond the classroom. He describes Wally’s Cafe, one of America’s longest-running jazz clubs, as a “sacred place” where he spent countless nights watching awestruck as the house band played improvisational music as a seamless unit. “It was like when little fish come together to form the shape of a big fish,” he remembers, his eyes widening. “It was like a living creature moving along as they played the hippest grooves. Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, D’angelo and Raphael Saadiq were all coming out with dope music at the time, and the musicians at Wally’s were absorbing all that music and playing it as they were also improvising. It was like a modern day Miles Davis electric band if they all listened to J Dilla. It blew my mind.”

He still vividly remembers the fateful funk night when the house keyboard player at Wally’s first invited him to sit in and take his place. Eventually BIGYUKI earned himself a permanent place in the band, and the soulful jazz and irresistible grooves he learned in the smoke-filled club at Wally’s are now an integral part of his sound. At the same time, BIGYUKI also learned much from playing in popular covers band Felix Brown and performing gospel music at a local church. “Over time I learned how important the church was to the community,” he says. “But at first I was just blown away by how energetic and uplifting the music was.”

Having become a big fish in the relatively small pool of Boston music, BIGYUKI realised he could hear New York calling to him. It didn’t take long for him to make an impression in the city. One early break came at a late night jam session where acclaimed drummer Daru Jones was so impressed by his ability on the keys that he invited BIGYUKI to join the band he was putting together for Talib Kweli. A string of successful live shows and jam sessions meant BIGYUKI’s reputation as a session musician was growing, while at the same time he was starting to hone an individual sound he could call his own. In October 2015 he put out his debut solo EP, the eclectic and experimental ‘Greek Fire’. “As I was making my name as a session player, I started finding it interesting and fun to come up with my own original ideas,” he recalls. “My buddies were like: ‘Why don't you write your own music?’ I hadn’t even thought of doing that, because my dream as a musician was just to survive. Back then I thought the pinnacle of that journey would be to become a touring musician for someone else. It was only then that I thought: ‘Maybe that could be me!’ I flipped the script and started writing, and ‘Greek Fire’ captures those early ideas.”

The surplus of innovative musical ideas emanating from BIGYUKI’s keys didn’t go unnoticed. In 2016 he spent two months as a member of Jon Batiste’s house band on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ and played on J. Cole’s album ‘4 Your Eyez Only’. That same year he also played on and wrote for A Tribe Called Quest’s final record ‘We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service’. “I had worked with Q-Tip on music for a TV pilot, so he had seen my ideas and how I operate in the studio,” explains BIGYUKI. “Eventually he asked me if I’d be interested in being a part of the A Tribe Called Quest record and of course I was like: ‘Yes please!’ I only really understood the historic importance of the album after it came out, because when I was in the studio with them it was just a pure energy exchange.”

Still, BIGYUKI knew he had more to say as a musician in his own right. In November 2017 he released his debut album ‘Reaching For Chiron’, a rich and varied collection of music that connects the dots between experimental jazz, soulful funk and deep hip-hop beats. “It's a collection of different ideas and different emotions0” says BIGYUKI. “I believe each of them showcases a different side of me.”

The remarkable album features guest vocals from singers including Bilal and Abbey Smith, who also appeared on the A Tribe Called Quest record, and is named for the wisest centaur in Greek mythology. “Centaurs are usually savage and wild, but Chiron is a teacher figure for the community,” explains BIGYUKI. “I used the centaur as a metaphor for having two completely different elements coming together as one, like humans and robots, or the older generation and the younger generation. ‘Reaching for Chiron’ is about seeing this massive collision of ideas and hoping we can adapt and be better.”

BIGYUKI’s ability to absorb and reflect what’s going on in the world through his music is particularly evident on his latest EP, ‘2099’, which features a guest spot from Talib Kweli and was released at the very end of 2020. “That year was such a pivotal, crazy and important time for all of us,” points out BIGYUKI. “Even though shit was crazy and people weren’t really paying attention to hot new releases, I felt as an artist and a human being living in that moment that it was important for me to put out something that captured my emotions through 2020.”

Having toured with Kamasi Washington’s band in 2019 and played in Lauryn Hill’s band at the Louis Vuitton Men’s Spring-Summer 2021 show, BIGYUKI is itching to get back to performing live regularly once the world opens up. Until then, he says he’s found himself returning to his first love: the piano, his “big wooden toy”. “Now that it's hard for me to assemble my band, I’ve been reconnecting with playing piano,” he says. “I started off trying to see if I’m musically strong enough to express something through just playing piano by myself. I see a lot of potential in that. I feel like it can be a very fun journey for me, and a new stream of my musical expression.”