A Native of Hiroshima, Japan, Takeshi Ohbayashi Began Playing Piano at the Age of Two

Takeshi Ohbayashi (piano)

A native of Hiroshima, Japan, Takeshi Ohbayashi began playing piano at the age of two. He picked up trumpet at age twelve, which became his focus while attending Hiroshima Music High School, along with conducting and composition. Ohbayashi went on to study film scoring and composition at Tokyo College of Music, but it wasn’t until he attended a jazz piano clinic in his freshman year that he found his calling to jazz. After applying and receiving scholarship to the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, Ohbayashi began his studies in the States in the Spring of 2007.

While in school, Ohbayashi was awarded the Best Player and Audience’s Favorite awards in the 2009 Yokohama Jazz Competition, was a semi-finalist in Montreux Jazz Piano Competition 2007, and placed in the top three at the 2009 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. In Fall 2009, Ohbayashi was selected to be a part of the opening class of the honorable Berklee Global Jazz Institute, led by Danilo Perez. During his time in Global Jazz, Ohbayashi studied, performed, and taught clinics all around the globe with world class musicians.

Ohbayashi has had the privilege to perform with McCoy Tyner, Terri Lyne Carrington, Joe Lovano, Jamey Haddad, John Pattitucci, Tiger Okoshi, Greg Osby, Dave Santoro, Tim Miller, Gary Thomas, Darren Barrett, Hal Crook, and more.

Having graduated from Berklee in 2011, Ohbayashi currently resides in New York and leads his own group, as well as tours as a sideman around the world.