Yaz Band

A native of Osaka Japan, Yasuyuki "YAZ" Takagi lives in Brooklyn New York since 1992. He formed his own band called "YAZ BAND" in 2002 and has been playing in New York Metro area.
Yaz Band is a four piece core group which plays classic R&B songs written by artists such as Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire and Marvin Gaye as well as original instrumental tunes influenced by Grover Washington, Jr., Maceo Parker and The Crusaders.
As an official member of the Metropolitan Transit Authority sponsored "Music Under New York" series, Yaz Band has performed at various New York City subway stations. In addition, Yaz Band has had the opportunity to take their music abroad as part of the 2003 & 2004 Under New York performance series held in Seoul, Korea.
The release of his two CDs ( “YAZ” in 2003 and “You Can't Say It in Public” in 2005) have been well-received by both the critics and public, alike. Equally as impressive is the fact that his group has gained further exposure and recognition “above ground” as they have performed abroad in Seoul, Korea in both 2003 & 2004 as part of the Music Under New York in Seoul performance series and in cities well beyond the New York metropolitan area. Yaz has also performed as part of Lincoln Center's “Out of Doors” Festival and at the historic Minton's Playhouse, both in New York City. Additionally, audiences have had the pleasure to hear his energetic and soulful playing at many venues throughout the metropolitan area. Yaz's popularity has soared to the extent that he has also appeared on television in his native Japan and New York City's former smooth jazz radio station WQCD, better known as to New Yorkers as “CD 101.9”.
His new CD "RUSH HOUR" was released in December in 2007.