Born in Tokyo, Raised on Records the American Soldiers Left Behind, and a Pianist Who Went on to Sit Beside Gil Evans and Paul Motian

Masabumi Kikuchi was born in Tokyo on October 19, 1939. After the 1945 firebombing his family moved to Aizuwakamatsu in Fukushima, where his parents came from, and there he taught himself jazz from second-hand records, probably left behind by American soldiers. He studied at Tokyo Art College High School and, while still young, won a place in Lionel Hampton's Japanese touring band, which led to a scholarship at Berklee in Boston. His 1970 album Poo-Sun borrowed his own nickname; in 1972 he made Masabumi Kikuchi with Gil Evans for Philips; and in the 1990s he recorded Miles Mode, a Miles Davis tribute, with the P.M.P. trio. He later used electronic keyboards extensively, then came back to piano in his last years. He died of a subdural hematoma in Manhasset, New York, on July 6, 2015, at 75. One obituary notes he struggled to find work because he would not conform to what others wanted of him.