Born in Tokyo, Japan on April 16, 1947, Takao Uematsu is a jazz fusion saxophonist and clarinetist. At the age of 13, the self-taught musician began playing the clarinet but soon switched to the saxophone. In 1965, he joined jazz drummer Akira Ishikawa’s band before moving on to a stint playing with jazz fusion guitarist Kiyoshi Sugimoto. In 1970, he joined drummer Takeshi Inomata’s band Sound Ltd., where he made his first recordings. That same year, he led his own quartet and recorded the album Debut. A year later, Takao Uematsu collaborated with fellow saxophonist Takeru Muraoka on the album Ride and Tie (1971). His fusion album, Straight Ahead, followed in 1977. In between his solo releases, he spent the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s working with George Otsuka, Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Sunao Wada, Shigeharu Mukai, Kazuo Yashiro, Takako Ueno, and Maki Asakawa among others . In 1992, Takao Uematsu released the album Come from Within.
