Born in Kobe, Japan, graduated from West Virginia University with linguistics major, and later studied and performed with Nathan Davis at the University of Pittsburgh. He spent most of 80's in the States and toured with Grammy winning Chuck Mangione in the late 80's. Back to Japan in 1990, he produced a series of CD’s, and was also much in demand for commercial recording work. In the mid 90’, he performed the soundtrack for the platinum winning “Neo Genesis Evangelion†which became a global success.
Since 2001, Kuriya has been writing and producing songs for best selling pop artist, Ken Hirai. In 2002, he completed the movie soundtrack for “Nitaboh†performed by the Warsaw Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and later the production of an album “Jurassic†for the multi European award winning saxophonist, Masataka Hirano. In 2004, Kuriya performed with his own group and with Herbie Hancock at "Tokyo Jazz", the largest jazz festival in Japan, and in Paris for the “International Music Day†organized by UNESCO, with such greats as John Faddis, Jonny Griffin and Billy Cobham,. He has also performed with many famous musicians including Donald Byrd, James Moody, Toots Thielmans and Curtis Fuller.
In 2005 and 2006, the European tours ended in great success. In 2006, Kuriya produced a Japan-Australia joint project and toured with the mixture unit in both countries. The year 2007 is with the third European tour in spring.
â– Makoto Kuriya Official Website
â– Kuriya's latest song for Nissan "Murano"
â– Bio in French, Germany, Italy
â– mixi Makoto Kuriya (Japanese only)
makoto kuriya trio plays "grand father's clock"
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