Mitsuru Nasuno

Born November 17 1963 In Morioka Iwate Prefecture Mitsuru Nasuno 那須野満 Nasuno Mitsuru Started Playing The Electric Bass At The Age Of 17 And Soon Began Playing Rock Music With Friends From His High School. In 1981 Nasuno Moved To Kyoto To Attend Kyoto Sangyo University Where He Joined Student Bands And Played In A Variety Of Pop Styles - Hard Rock New Wave Funk And So On. He Even Joined A University Big Band And For A Time Took Double Bass Lessons In Order To Play Big Band Jazz. After Graduation Nasuno Played In Several Rock- And Funk-Oriented Bands Such As Schwarz. It Was During This Period In 1989 That He Met Drummer Yasuhiro Yoshigaki Who With Guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi Was Planning To Form A Trio That Would Have A Sound Similar To That Of The Group Power Tools Bill Frisell Melvin Gibbs And Shannon Jackson . Yoshigaki Invited Nasuno To Join Him And Uchihashi And About A Year Later - In April 1990 - The Trio Altered States Gave Their First Concert In Kyoto. For The First Three Years After The Group Formed Nasuno Felt Unsure About How To Adapt His Playing Style To The Ideas Of The Other Members And He Often Thought About Quitting But Eventually He Overcame These Difficulties And Hit His Stride. At First The Pieces Played By Altered States Were Mainly Based On Uchihashi's Compositions. Over Time Improvisation Made Up A Greater And Greater Proportion Of Their Music And Now Their Live Performances Are Entirely Improvised. Soon After The Launching Of Altered States Nasuno Became Very Interested In Noise Music. In 1993 He And Drummer Toru Sanjo Formed A Band Called The Mugamps Which Made Extensive Use Of Odd Rhythms And Noise. The Band Remained Together For About A Year. In The Same Period Nasuno Was Also A Member For A Year Of The Underground Music Band Amaryllis. Through His Activities With Altered States Nasuno Came To Be Known On The Improvised Music Scene In Japan. In 1994 He Became A Member Along With Yoshigaki And Uchihashi Of Turntable And Guitar Player Otomo Yoshihide's Group Ground-Zero. The Group's Other Members At The Time Were Drummer Masahiro Uemura And Bassist Masaki Shimizu Soon To Be Replaced By Sampler Player Sachiko M . In '97 Nasuno Joined Drummer Akira Sotoyama's Group Manzokuyama The Other Members Of Which Are Sax Player Naruyoshi Kikuchi And Guitarist Akihiro Ishiwatari And In '98 He Participated In Drummer Tatsuya Yoshida's Trio Korekyojinn With Guitarist Natsuki Kido. In 1996 Nasuno Moved His Base Of Activity From Kyoto To The Tokyo Area. In June Of '98 He Brought Together Five Younger Musicians An Alto Sax Player Two Guitarists A Drummer And A Percussionist And Relaunched His Band The Mugamps Whose First Gig In Tokyo Featured Two Guest Musicians A Guitarist And A Keyboard Player . Since 1993 As A Member Of Altered States And Ground-Zero Nasuno Has Made Several Concert Trips To Europe '93 '95 And '97 And North America '95 . Among The Musicians He Has Played With Are Kazutoki Umezu Reeds Koichi Makigami Voice Seiichi Yamamoto Guitar Atsushi Tsuyama Bass And Guitar Yamatsuka Eye Voice Tenko Voice Shuichi Chino Keyboards Michiyo Yagi Koto Yumiko Tanaka Shamisen Hoppy Kamiyama Keyboards Jon Rose Violin Ned Rothenberg Reeds Samm Bennett Percussion Martin Tetreault Turntables Leonid Soybelman Guitar And Vocal Jane Scarpantoni Cello Hugo Fattoruso Keyboards And Thomas Buckner Vocal . read less