Masahiko Togashi (富樫 雅彦, Togashi Masahiko, 22 March 1940 in Tokyo – 22 August 2007 in Kanagawa) was a Japanese jazz percussionist and composer.[1]
Togashi grew up in a musical household; his father was a double-bassist in a swing jazz ensemble, and Togashi learned violin and drums, playing the latter in his father's band.[1] He worked with Sadao Watanabe, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Tony Scott in the 1950s, then founded the ensemble Jazz Academy in 1961 with Hideto Kanai, Masabumi Kikuchi, and Masayuki Takayanagi.[1] Togashi was an early free jazz leader in Japan: his 1965 quartet with Kazunori Takeda, Yosuke Yamashita and Kuniro Takimoto used words as triggers for each player to perform his thoughts about that word.[2] Togashi and Yamashita were part of Watanabe's band in 1966, but Yamashita and Togashi disagreed about rhythms, leading to the pianist leaving.[3] Togashi also performed with American musicians such as Ornette Coleman, Blue Mitchell, Lee Morgan, and Sonny Rollins on Japanese tours.[1] Early in 1969, Togashi and Hiroshi Suzuki co-led a quintet that recorded the album Variation.[4] Another Togashi album from the same year – the quartet We Now Create – was described by critic Teruto Soejima as "a masterpiece of four individuals intensely exploring the true natures of their instruments".[5] Late that year, he recorded duets with Mototeru Takagi for the soundtrack to the experimental film A.K.A. Serial Killer.[6] An edited version of the soundtrack was released as Isolation by Colombia Records.[7]
