71-year-old guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka captivated fans with a setlist full of hits, offering a once-in-a-lifetime performance for aficionados of the international genre at LA's Wiltern Theatre.
The iconic Japanese jazz fusion guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka delivered his first concert in the United States in four decades to a sold-out audience at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday night. This event, part of a two-night limited engagement announced in September that sold out almost immediately, marks an extraordinary late-career revival for Takanaka, driven by the rising popularity of Japanese jazz fusion and city pop music from the 1970s and ‘80s in America.
Clad in his signature red suit, complemented by a white dress shirt and black bowtie, Takanaka and his band performed an exhilarating two-hour set that included some of the musician's most popular tracks, such as “Oh! Tengo Suerte,” “Thunderstorms,” “Finger Dancin’,” and a funk-inspired version of Santana's “Europa (Earth's Cry, Heaven's Smile).” The guitarist’s unique fusion of jazzy guitar solos and island rhythms generated one of the most lively and engaged audiences I have ever seen. It was clear that Takanaka was relishing the performance just as much as the crowd.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time,” Takanaka said with enthusiasm. “And now, I’m your grandpa’s age. But I’m young! My dream is [a] Grammy! Come on!”
Whether “this” referred to his return to performing in the U.S. or to the broader reach of his music in America (and globally) remains ambiguous. What is undeniable, however, is that many Americans—especially younger white men in their twenties and thirties—have long been eager to experience Takanaka’s music live.
Since mid-2010s, albums by pioneering Japanese pop and jazz fusion artists have gained millions of views on platforms like YouTube, as the algorithm began recommending them to jazz lovers in the U.S. Moreover, Japanese music from the ‘70s and ‘80s has seen an uptick in its influence on popular music in America over the past decade.
Grimes sampled Takanaka's 1981 song “Penguin Dancer” in her 2015 track “Butterfly.” A fan-curated MF DOOM mixtape featuring Tatsuro Yamashita's music attracted millions of views in 2018 before being taken down due to a copyright issue with Sony Music Entertainment Japan (a new version has gained 1 million views since 2022). Also, Haruomi Hosono's 1973 folk pop classic Hosono House inspired Harry Styles’ 2022 album Harry’s House, among other notable instances.
Recently, self-styled musicologists and fans of Japanese jazz fusion on TikTok, combined with a heightened fascination for all things Japanese—evident as monthly visitor numbers to Japan reached new highs and were fueled by the booming Pokemon trading card market, anime, cuisine, and denim—have propelled the fandom to new heights.
Japanese city pop and jazz fusion drew heavily from popular U.S. groups in the ‘70s and ‘80s, often incorporating English lyrics. However, the notion of artists such as Tatsuro Yamashita, Mariya Takeuchi, or Caseopia performing in the U.S. had seemed a distant dream for many fans of these genres.
For Takanaka, widely regarded as Japan’s most talented guitarist and the face of the genre he helped establish, to perform live in the U.S. signifies a monumental achievement for fans and signifies growth for a genre that reached its peak in Japan over 40 years ago.
Several audience members near me had traveled from New York, Atlanta, Japan, and France to witness Takanaka’s performance. All the fans I spoke with felt this was a unique opportunity to see one of their favorite artists up close.
According to accounts shared by fans both in attendance and on the Masayoshi Takanaka subreddit, audiences at Takanaka’s concerts in Japan typically consist of attendees around the guitarist's age who remain silent, except for polite applause after each song. The atmosphere was quite different Sunday night. The sold-out crowd, majority in their twenties and thirties, was exuberant, showering the stage with loud applause and cheers after every song.
It was evident that Takanaka and his band were energized by the crowd's enthusiasm and were fully enjoying the experience. Takanaka frequently raised his fist in triumph during guitar solos and exchanged incredulous glances with his bandmates, seemingly thinking, “Can you believe these kids are having such a great time?”
I, along with every other fan present and the tens of thousands who followed along online, hope that the warm reception and overwhelming demand for tickets to these two shows in LA will encourage Takanaka to consider touring more in the U.S. A video I shared on my TikTok account the day after the concert
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71-year-old guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka captivated fans with a setlist full of hits, offering enthusiasts of an international genre a unique, unforgettable performance at LA's Wiltern Theatre.