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Profile No. JA-50 In Memoriam · 1932–2025

Masaru Imada

Piano, keyboards — Japanese — B: March 21, 1932, Tokyo, Japan — D: May 30, 2025, age 93
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Masaru Imada

Masaru Imada Quartet, "Now!!" (1970, Three Blind Mice, TBM-2) — Imada's debut leader album and the second release in the label's history. This is the original album cover art, not a photograph of the artist. Not Creative Commons-licensed — album cover art used as a documented last-resort substitute; no free-licensed photo of Imada could be located (checked English Wikipedia, Japanese Wikipedia, Wikidata, and two targeted CC/Flickr photo searches). — Discogs

Masaru Imada started on classical piano as a child in Tokyo, then found jazz playing in student bands at Meiji University. He tried a year in business after graduating before deciding it wasn't for him and committing to music professionally. From 1953 he played in clarinetist Eiji Kitamura's band, and by 1964 he was leading his own trio, six years before the label that would define his early catalog even existed.

Three Blind Mice launched in June 1970, produced by Takeshi Fujii as a showcase for Japan's emerging jazz talent. Imada's debut leader album, "Now!!," recorded that August with Ichiro Mimori on tenor and soprano sax, Takashi Mizuhashi on bass, and Masahiko Ozu on drums, was catalogued TBM-2, the label's second release ever. All four tracks were his own compositions. He wasn't a later addition to the label's story; he was part of its foundation.

Imada's TBM catalog kept building through the decade. "Poppy" (1973, TBM-14) split its two sides between solo piano and a trio featuring bassist Isoo Fukui and drummer Masahiko Ozu. "Alone Together" (1977, TBM-5003) paired him in duo with Czech-American bassist George Mraz. And "Green Caterpillar" (1975, TBM-39) brought together a session whose credits, verified directly against Discogs, read like a hub of this era's scene: Isoo Fukui on bass again, Tetsujiro Obara on drums, and a young Kazumi Watanabe on guitar.

In 1984, at 52, Imada didn't settle into a legacy act. He started a new one. He formed the fusion band Now'in and led it through seven studio albums over the next twelve years, from "Mint Breeze" (1984, Polydor) to "Lovers In The Storm" (1996, Venus Records). Watanabe returned as a guest guitarist on "Mint Breeze," a second documented session between the two spanning the acoustic-to-fusion divide. Imada's son, Akira Imada, played synthesizer on that same 1984 album, the start of a musical partnership between father and son that produced the credited 1993 duo record "Conversation Father And Son."

Imada kept performing well into his eighties. As of 2015, Japanese sources had him still playing concerts, cruise ships, and the Pacific Masters golf tournament, with monthly dates at the Roppongi jazz club Satin Doll backed by a band that included Akira on keyboards. He passed away on May 30, 2025, at 93, a little over five decades after his second-ever Three Blind Mice release came off the press.

Imada's earliest catalog sits in the post-bop and modal territory Three Blind Mice built its reputation on: lyrical original compositions, a working trio's interplay, and the label's audiophile-grade studio sound under engineer Yoshihiko Kannari. "Green Caterpillar" pushed that foundation toward jazz-funk, adding congas and a young Kazumi Watanabe's guitar to the core trio sound, a record Discogs itself tags Jazz-Funk and Contemporary Jazz. His 1980s turn with Now'in moved further still, into electric keyboards, synthesizer, and a full fusion band lineup, a different vocabulary from the acoustic trio records that built his name a decade earlier. Across both eras, his own writing stayed the constant: nearly every leader date, acoustic or electric, is built on Imada originals.

Key Recordings
Full Discography

Masaru Imada — Full Discography

Note on Buy links: No Amazon Associates tag has been set up for this project yet (as of 2026-08-21). The links below are plain, non-affiliate Amazon search/product links. Once Erik provides an Associates tag, append ?tag=<ASSOCIATES_TAG> to each.

Discogs personal artist ID: 661585 (35 Main-role, 75 Appearance-role, 16 TrackAppearance-role, 6 Producer, 1 Mixed-by, 2 Unofficial Release). Imada also recorded as leader under four separate named group entities: Masaru Imada Trio (2926932, 11 Main), Masaru Imada Quartet (1019275, 3 Main), Masaru Imada NOWIN (3086983, 9 Main, his 1980s-90s fusion band Now'in), and Masaru Imada + Kenji Kohsei Quartet (6092442, 1 Main). A single unambiguous identity — no name-collision risk found on this build.

Leader (Main credit) — full detail, selected key releases

Album Year Label Personnel Notes Listen Buy
Now!! 1970 Three Blind Mice (TBM-2) Masaru Imada (piano), Ichiro Mimori (tenor/soprano sax), Takashi Mizuhashi (bass), Masahiko Ozu (drums) Debut leader album; catalogued TBM-2, the second release in Three Blind Mice's entire history; recorded Aug 10 & 14, 1970; all four tracks Imada originals Spotify (artist page) Amazon
Poppy 1973 Three Blind Mice (TBM-14) Masaru Imada (piano, solo side one); trio side two: Isoo Fukui (bass), Masahiko Ozu (drums) Split-format album, solo piano and trio on the same LP YouTube Amazon
Green Caterpillar 1975 Three Blind Mice (TBM-39) Masaru Imada (piano), Isoo Fukui (bass), Tetsujiro Obara (drums), Kazumi Watanabe (guitar), Yuji Imamura (congas, percussion) Jazz-funk/contemporary jazz session; personnel independently verified via Discogs extraartists credits YouTube Amazon
Alone Together 1977 Three Blind Mice (TBM-5003) Masaru Imada (piano), George Mraz (bass) Piano/bass duo record with the Czech-American bassist YouTube Amazon
Mint Breeze 1984 Polydor (28MX 2502) Masaru Imada (keyboards, composer, arranger, producer), Kazumi Watanabe (guitar, guest), Toshiyuki Honda (alto sax, soprano sax, flute, guest), Naobumi Noro (drums), Hiroaki Minami (electric bass), Nozomi Furukawa (guitar), Shigeru Mizuno (percussion), Akira Imada (synthesizer) Debut album of fusion band Now'in, Imada's 1980s second act; his son Akira Imada already on synthesizer here, nine years before their credited 1993 duo record; Kazumi Watanabe returns as a guest, a second documented session with him after Green Caterpillar Spotify, YouTube Amazon

Remaining Leader (Main) releases, chronological (Discogs-linked, not individually verified in full personnel detail)

Personal artist page (661585):

Masaru Imada Trio (2926932):

Masaru Imada Quartet (1019275):

Masaru Imada NOWIN (3086983) — Now'in fusion band, 1984-1996:

Masaru Imada + Kenji Kohsei Quartet (6092442):

Producer / Mixed-by credits (chronological)

Mostly overlapping with his own Leader catalog above (Imada produced most of his own work from the 1970s onward, and mixed his own Now'in albums). No standalone producer-for-hire credits found outside his own releases in this pass.

Guest / Appearance / Compilation / TrackAppearance credits

Discogs lists 75 "Appearance"-role and 16 "TrackAppearance"-role credits on Imada's personal artist page, spanning the 1970s Three Blind Mice era through later-career tribute and reissue compilations. This volume is genuine but secondary to the Leader catalog above, which received full treatment. Individual verification of each was not run for this build — full list available via https://api.discogs.com/artists/661585/releases?per_page=100&page=1 (and &page=2), saved in this project's _process/discogs-releases-p1.json and p2.json.

Notable compilation/tribute appearances surfaced during this pass:

Full Appearance and TrackAppearance title lists are available on request.

Unofficial Release credits (2, excluded from the counts above as bootleg/unauthorized)

Two flagged "UnofficialRelease" entries exist on Imada's personal Discogs page; titles not individually pulled for this build (data-quality flag only, not verified further this pass).

Personnel & Collaborations
Linked Profiles
Isoo Fukui
Isoo Fukui
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Tetsujiro Obara
Tetsujiro Obara
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Kazumi Watanabe
Kazumi Watanabe
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Links & Sources