{{Short description|Japanese jazz pianist and composer (1932–2025)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Masaru Imada | image = | caption = | image_size = | birth_name = {{nihongo|Masaru Imada|今田勝|Imada Masaru }} | alias = | birth_place = Tokyo, Japan | birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|3|21|df=y}} | death_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|5|30|1932|3|21|df=y}}<ref name="h540">{{cite web|url=https://diskunion.net/jazz/ct/news/article/1/131087| title= 今田勝|ニュース&インフォメーション|JAZZ | ディスクユニオン･オンラインショップ|trans-title=Masaru Imada | News & Information | JAZZ | Disk Union Online Shop |publisher=diskunion.net|access-date=31 July 2025|language=ja}}</ref><ref name="q482">{{cite web | title=日本を代表するジャズ・ピアニスト，今田勝が93歳で永眠 | website=Jaz.in | date=2025-06-02 | url=https://jazin.net/?p=2488 | language=ja | access-date=2025-07-31}}</ref> | instrument = Piano | genre = Jazz | occupation = Musician, composer | years_active = | label = | associated_acts = | website = [http://www.imadamasaru.com/ imadamasaru.com] | current_members = | past_members = }}
{{nihongo|'''Masaru Imada'''|今田勝|Imada Masaru|extra= 21 March 1932 – 30 May 2025}} was a Japanese jazz pianist and composer.
==Life and career== Imada was born in Tokyo on 21 March 1932.<ref name="Grove">{{Citation|last = Sugiyama |first = Kazunori|title = Imada, Masaru |publisher = Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press|url = http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/J597700?q=masaru+imada&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1|access-date = 1 February 2015|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He had classical piano lessons.<ref name="Grove" /> He played jazz in student bands while a student at Meiji University, after which he worked in business for a year.<ref name="Grove" /> He then decided to pursue music professionally.<ref name="Grove" /> From 1953 he was part of clarinetist Eiji Kitamura's band.<ref name="Grove" />
Imada had his own trio from 1964.<ref name="Grove" /> He formed Now'in, a fusion band, in 1984.<ref name="Grove" /> He played internationally at jazz festivals from the 1970s.<ref name="Grove" />
==Discography== An asterisk (*) after the year indicates that it is the year of release.
===As leader/co-leader=== {|class="wikitable sortable" !Year recorded !Title !Label !Notes |- |1970* |''Maki'' | |Quartet, with tenor sax, bass, drums |- |1970* |''Now!'' |Three Blind Mice |Quartet, with tenor sax, bass, drums |- |1973 |''Poppy'' |Three Blind Mice |Some tracks solo piano; some tracks trio, with Isao Fukui (bass), Masahiko Ozu (drums) |- |1975 |''Green Caterpillar'' |Three Blind Mice |Quintet, with Kazumi Watanabe (guitar), Isao Fukui (bass), Tetsujiro Obara (drums), Yuji Imamura (percussion) |- |1976 |''Masaru Imada Piano'' |Three Blind Mice |Solo piano |- |1977 |''Alone Together'' |Three Blind Mice |Duo, with George Mraz (bass) |- |1980 |''Andalusian Breeze'' |Trio |With Kazumi Watanabe (guitar), Mitsuaki Furuno (bass), Shinji Mori (drums), Yuji Imamura (percussion) |- |1981 |''Carnival'' |Trio |With Michael Brecker (tenor sax), Randy Brecker (flugelhorn), Kiyoshi Sugimoto (guitar), Akira Okazawa (bass), Yuichi Tokashiki (drums), Yuji Imamura (percussion) |- |1982* |''Seaside'' | |With Grover Washington, Jr. (tenor sax, alto sax, soprano sax, flute), Tom Brown (trumpet), Steve Kahn (guitar), Anthony Jackson (bass), Steve Jordan (drums), Manolo Badrena (percussion) |- |1986* |''Strange Conversation'' |Polydor |Quartet, with keyboard, bass, drums |- |1988* |''Azure'' | |Sextet |- |2002* |''Standards'' |Three Blind Mice | |}
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Imada, Masaru}} Category:1932 births Category:2025 deaths Category:Japanese jazz pianists Category:Musicians from Tokyo Category:21st-century Japanese pianists