Такахиро Мацумото: Жапон музыкантының өмірі мен шығармашылығы

Japanese musician

Takahiro Matsumoto (松本 孝弘) is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist and main composer of the rock duo B'z, the best selling music act in their native Japan by certifications. He also has a successful solo career where, in addition to winning several Japan Gold Disc Awards, he won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album for Take Your Pick (2010), which he made in collaboration with Larry Carlton. Matsumoto is only the fifth guitarist in the world to have his own Gibson signature model guitar.

Matsumoto was inspired to pick up a guitar at the age of 13 when he heard Eric Clapton's playing on The Beatles song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" for the first time. He reportedly bought his first electric guitar at age 15, a Japanese Gibson Les Paul, after hearing Deep Purple's guitarist Ritchie Blackmore play "Smoke on the Water on the live album Made in Japan. He has also worked with Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra for many years, and their work often appears on many of the earlier B'z albums. Matsumoto attended jazz school, Matsumoto and Inaba formed the duo B'z and debuted in September 1988. B'z has continued to be one of the most successful bands in the history of Japanese music, helped by the pairing of two very different musical directions. Matsumoto always drew his tastes from blues, classical, and jazz, while Inaba preferred rock music. Matsumoto has ongoing friendships with musicians such as Barry Sparks, Marty Friedman, Billy Sheehan, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Martin, Jack Blades, Joe Perry, Pat Torpey, Steven Tyler, and Steve Vai, with whom Matsumoto and Inaba recorded the song "Asian Sky" from the 1999 album, The Ultra Zone. In 2004, he formed the "Tak Matsumoto Group" (TMG) with Eric Martin on vocal, Jack Blades on bass, and various guest drummers, namely Brian Tichy and Cindy Blackman, forging ahead with his own brand of musical genius. Matsumoto played guitar, produced the album, and wrote songs while Eric and Jack wrote lyrics. In March, the single "Oh Japan ~Our Time Is Now~", was released. The album TMG I, which made Matsumoto go back and forth to the US for the recording, was released on June 23. Matsumoto said he had this project idea for a long time. The album mixes rock and oriental sounds. The album topped the Oricon Albums Chart in the first week. Matsumoto energetically kept working; on July 18, 19 and 20, he had a collaboration concert with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra at Suntory Hall. At this special concert, named "Tokyo Special Collaboration 2004 Matsumoto Takahiro HANA ", Matsumoto played the B'z hit "Love Phantom" and the solo number "HANA" with only his guitar and Orchestra. Soon after, TMG started its tour rehearsal. From July 30, the "Dodge The Bullet" tour started at Zepp Fukuoka. Chris Frazier who played songs on the B'z album Big Machine joined as the drummer for this tour. TMG had 16 shows in 8 locations including the last show at Nihon Budokan on September 7. In November, Matsumoto established his own label, "House of Strings", which emphasizes guitarists and string musicians. He recorded again at a studio with songs played with an orchestra in July and released it as the first House of Strings CD with the same title on the album. It is an instrumental album including Christmas numbers such as "Itsuka no Merry Christmas" and "Holy Night". In 2005, he scored the soundtrack for the film Ultraman: The Next, while the next year wrote the music of "Real Face" for KAT TUN. According to Oricon, "Real Face" became the best selling Japanese single in 2006. In 2010, after the tour "Ain't No Magic" with B'z, Matsumoto worked with guitarist Larry Carlton. Together they released an album titled Take Your Pick on June 2, 2010, available in Japan and around the world. The album was considered for nomination for nine categories of the 2011 Grammy Awards, and ended up winning the award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. It also won Jazz Album of the Year at the 25th Japan Gold Disc Awards. Together they embarked on a nationwide tour to support the album, with Matsumoto saying that he "felt a little nervous playing 'Room 335' with Mr. Larry Carlton every night". He won the award a third time for 2020's Bluesman. On March 8, 2024, TMG officially announced its reformation, with a second album and a nationwide tour across Japan in the works.

Matsumoto, through his B'z fame, is credited for the "resurrection and reinvention of the Japanese guitar hero", alongside, and in comparison to, X Japan guitarist hide, as a model of guitarist more interested in technique, technology, and equipment, popularizing the electric guitar as a mass media product in Japan. Terry Burrows considered him the "most highly regarded guitarist to emerge from Asia". Matsumoto ranked first in a 2011 poll conducted by the Japanese search engine goo on who the Japanese people thought was the best guitarist to represent Japan. In 2019, Matsumoto's song "1090 ~Thousand Dreams~" (1090 〜千夢一夜〜) was named the 51st best guitar instrumental by Young Guitar Magazine. In April 2022, the Japanese government awarded Matsumoto the Medal with Dark Blue Ribbon for his charitable contributions.

Matsumoto was given his own Signature Model Les Paul from Gibson in 1999. Matsumoto was added to the Gibson signature artist club as the first guitarist from Asia. He currently holds the record with 7 different signature models produced, including "Model Double Cutaway".

Thousand Wave (May 21, 1988), Oricon ranking: No. 58
Wanna Go Home (April 22, 1992) No. 3
Rock'n Roll Standard Club (May 15, 1996) No. 2
Thousand Wave Plus (October 7, 1996) No. 25
Knockin' "T" Around (April 14, 1999) No. 5
Dragon From The West (西辺来龍 DRAGON FROM THE WEST) (February 27, 2002) No. 5
Hana (華) (February 27, 2002) No. 4
The Hit Parade (November 26, 2003) No. 2
House of Strings (November 24, 2004) No. 7
Theatre of Strings (October 19, 2005) No. 9
Take Your Pick (June 2, 2010) No. 2
Strings of My Soul (June 20, 2012) No. 4
New Horizon (April 20, 2014) No. 3
enigma (April 6, 2016) No. 4
Electric Island, Acoustic Sea (February 8, 2017) No. 7
Bluesman (September 2, 2020) No. 3

'88 ~ Love Story/Love Ya (September 25, 1991) Oricon ranking: No. 8
#1090 Thousand Dreams (March 18, 1992) – Music Station opening theme No. 3
The Changing (March 25, 1999) No. 3
異邦人 (Ihoujin) (August 27, 2003), features Zard and Matsuda Akiko of Ramjet Pulley, No. 2
イミテイション・ゴールド [Imitation Gold] (October 8, 2003), features Mai Kuraki and Nakamura Yuri of GARNET CROW, No. 1

TMG I (June 23, 2004) No. 1

"Oh Japan ~Our Time Is Now~" (March 31, 2004) No. 3

Dodge The Bullet (December 15, 2004) No. 8