Masato Honda

Honda became interested in music since childhood under the influence of his parents, who both were music teachers, and started playing the saxophone in the third grade of primary school. During his time at Kunitachi College of Music, he was a member of its jazz orchestra. His band won the Yamano Big Band Jazz Contest in their first appearance, and Honda won the Best Soloist Award. While still a student, he became the lead alto saxophone player in Nobuo Hara and His Sharps & Flats. After graduating college, he tours with many of Japan's top artists and also works as a recording musician for many artists across genres.

In 1991, he joined the fusion group T-SQUARE, where he played as a frontman of the band, and created a new style of music in terms of composition and arrangement. In 1998, he left T-SQUARE and became a solo artist. Besides playing in self-titled bands, he has been involved in projects such as 'Witness', 'B.B. Station', 'Four of a Kind' and 'Voice Of Elements', and collaborated with a jazz singer Marlene for an album in big band arrangements to production. Lately he has been active as a member of the BLUE NOTE TOKYO ALL-STAR JAZZ ORCHESTRA, as well as a member of the unit SUPER BRASS STARS with Eijiro Nakagawa and Eric Miyashiro.

While focusing on these activities as an artist, his activities are diverse including sessions with world-class artists, recording, arranging and producing.

In 2008, he recorded his first solo work in Los Angeles with Bob James and others. In 2015, he released his tenth original album 'SAXES STREET' from Universal Music (GRP Records).
Honda is currently a visiting professor at Showa University of Music.

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Label

Universal Music

Official Web Site

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