Akira Tana

Akira Tana (born March 14, 1952 in San Jose, California) is an American jazz drummer.

Akira Tana
Born (1952-03-14) March 14, 1952
San Jose, California, United States
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsDrums,
LabelsSons of Sound

Biography

Tana grew up in Palo Alto, graduating from Gunn High School in 1970.[1] Tana then obtained a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in the social sciences, playing gigs on the side, then enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music. There he performed in both classical and jazz idioms, playing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and student ensembles as well as with musicians such as Helen Humes, Milt Jackson, Sonny Rollins, George Russell, and Sonny Stitt.

Tana recorded frequently as a sideman in the 1980s, and began releasing albums as a leader in the 1990s. He formed a group, Tana Reid, with Rufus Reid, and added Kei Akagi on occasion to form the Asian-American Jazz Trio. Tana's performing and recording associations include Charles Aznavour, Ran Blake, Ray Bryant, Al Cohn, Chris Connor, Art Farmer, Carl Fontana, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson, Jim Hall, Jimmy Heath, Lena Horne, J.J. Johnson, Warne Marsh, Tete Montoliu, James Moody, Spike Robinson, Jimmy Rowles, Zoot Sims, Cedar Walton, and Frank Wess.

Discography

As TanaReid

With Rufus Reid

  • Yours and Mine (Concord Jazz, 1991)
  • Passing Thoughts (Concord Jazz, 1992)
  • Blue Motion (Paddle Wheel, 1993)
  • Rumour with Charles Licata Rumour (Charles Publishing, 1995)
  • Looking Forward (Evidence, 1995)
  • Back to Front (Evidence, 1998)

As leader
  • Secret Agent Men (Sons of Sound, 2002)
  • Moon Over The World (Sons of Sound, 2004)
  • Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Annie Sellick (Sons of Sound, 2011)
  • Sound Poetry with Ken Berman and Kai Eckhardt (Mmgmusic, 2014)
  • JAZZaNOVA (Vegamusic-Usa, 2017)

As Akira Tana and Otonowa

With Masaru Koga, Saki Kono, Art Hirahara and Ken Okada

  • Otonowa (Vegamusic, 2013)
  • Stars Across the Ocean (Vegamusic, 2016)
  • Ai San San – Love's Radiance (愛燦燦) (Vegamusic, 2019)

As sideman

With James Moody

  • Sweet and Lovely (Novus, 1989)
  • Honey (Novus, 1991)

With Zoot Sims

  • I Wish I Were Twins (Pablo, 1981)
  • Suddenly It's Spring (Pablo, 1983)

With others

References
  1. "Tana. Akira Tana. | News | Palo Alto Online |". 2019-02-23. Archived from the original on 2019-02-23. Retrieved 2019-02-23.
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