Guitarist // Compose // Arranger
Teacher // Instructor // Jazz Cats
Yasuhisa Kogawa was born on July 13, 1979 in Okayama, Japan. He spent his teenage years in Okayama area. He started to play the piano at 5, and kept studying classical music. In junior high school, he started to play the guitar and violin.
In 1998, He studied classical guitar skill with Atumasa Nakabayashi. After that, He moved to Kansai area, and entered Koyo Conservatory to study jazz. He studied Jazz Guitar with Yuji Thuchino, Classical Guitar with Toru Nakagawa, Jazz Arranging with Eichiro Arasaki. From 1998, He studied with Mike Stern on several occasions.
In 2001, He was invited to BOSTON IASJ JAZZ Meeting as representative of asian students. He performed with Dave Liebman. He received a scholarship from Berklee College of Music and came to Boston. He majored in Jazz Composition, and he studied with Mick Goodrick, David Fiuczinski, Ken Pulling, and Scott Free.
After graduating from Berklee, he moved to New York area. He studied and performed with Steve Cardenas and Satoshi Inoue.
In April 2004, he was invited to "Japanese Street Festival" at Washington, DC. He performed with Yumi K. and Satoshi Inoue. After that, He moved to Tokyo Japan. He started to perform Jazz Guitar in tokyo area. He performed with Tommy Campbell and Mark Tourian.
He is interested in performing not only jazz but also pure improvised music and contemporary art. In July 2004, He joined a group named "CORNE" and started to collaborate with dancer.