Sadao Watanabe

Sadao Watanabe, born on February 1, 1933, in Utsunomiya, Japan, was a prominent jazz saxophonist. Influenced by post-World War II American culture, he started playing clarinet in high school and later switched to alto saxophone after moving to Tokyo in 1951. His career began with the Cozy Quartet led by Toshiko Akiyoshi. In 1962, Watanabe studied at Berklee College of Music and collaborated with Gary McFarland and Chico Hamilton, then returned to Tokyo in 1965 as director of the Yamaha Institute of Popular Music. He released his album Round Trip in 1970, featuring Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, and Miroslav Vitouš. Watanabe published six photography books and began teaching at the Kunitachi College of Music in 2010. Notable achievements include receiving an honorary doctorate from Berklee in 1995 and the Order of the Rising Sun in 2006.