Masabumi Kikuchi (菊地 雅章, Kikuchi Masabumi, 19 October 1939 – 6 July 2015) was a Japanese jazz pianist and composer known for his unique playing style. He worked with many diverse musicians, including Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Mccoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, and collaborated with Gil Evans and Tōru Takemitsu.

Masabumi Kikuchi was born in Tokyo in 1939. Following the firebombing of Tokyo in 1945, his family moved out of the city and settled in the rural Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima prefecture, where his parents were born.

He studied music at the Tokyo Art College High School. While a student, he began buying second-hand records, most likely left behind by American soldiers. His early influences were Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk.^[1] After graduating, he joined Lionel Hampton‘s Japanese touring band. He started a quintet with Terumasa Hino but soon after left for the US after winning a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music.

He died from a subdural hematoma on 6 July 2015 at a hospital in Manhasset, New York. At the time of his death, he lived in Manhattan, New York City.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlR29FG2DcI