Norio Maeda

Norio Nobuhito Maeda (前田憲男, Osaka, Japan, December 6, 1934 - November 28, 2018) was a Japanese jazz pianist and composer. Maeda learned piano as a young child, and moved to Tokyo to play and arrange jazz professionally in 1955. There he played with Shungo Sawada's ensemble and founded a group called the Wind Breakers. He joined the West Liners, led by Konosuke Saijo, as a pianist and arranger in 1959. Known as a composer, he penned pieces for The Blue Coats, Tatsuya Takahashi, Nobuo Hara, and Toshiyuki Miyama.