Ko Kanza

Artist Profile:

Ko Kanza

Born in Kobe Japan, Ko Kanza started playing drums and piano at age 5. When he was studying classic percussions at Osaka College of Music, he began to work professionally with several symphony orchestra and jazz groups around Osaka area.

In 1998, After he graduated from Osaka College of Music, he won Berklee Asian scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music. While at Berklee, he studied with world class drummers includes Dave Weckl, Jamie Haddad, Joe Hunt and others.

He also performed and recorded with many well known artist such as Tiger Okoshi, Eddie Henderson, Hiromi Uehara, Dave Samuels, Bruce Saunders, Phil Wilson, Greg Hopkins and many others. In 2002 he graduated from Berklee College of Music. In 2002 he received several awards such as Down Beat Magazine “Jazz Instrumental Group Outstanding Performance Award” “1st Prize Long Beach Jazz Search Competition Winners”(2004). He is performing all over the world includes his own group Ko Kanza Trio (in Japan), Florian Weber Group(in Germany), world-famous jazz festivals such as North Sea Jazz Festival 2002 (in Holland), Kansai International Jazz Festival 2002 (in Japan), Korean Jazz Festival 2004.

In 2003, he moved to Los Angeles. He performed with high profile artists include Dave Carpenter, Bob Sheppard, Luis Conte, Jimmy Haslip, Otmaro Ruiz, David Garfield, Sandro Albert, Brandon Fields, Carlitos Del Puerto, Renato Neto, Steve Tavaglione, Larry Steen, Mike Valerio, Steve Huffsteter, Michito Sanchez, Michael O’ Neil, and many others. He also performed, recorded music for TV movie, pop music with well-known film comporser Phil Giffin, singer Kate Markowitz. In 2006 March, he moved back to Japan, he start performing with Takehisa Tanaka Trio, Makoto Kuriya Gruop and many others.