Masaru Imada

Masaru Imada (今田勝) was born in Tokyo on 21 March 1932. He had classical piano lessons. He played jazz in student bands while a student at Meiji University, after which he worked in business for a year. He then decided to pursue music professionally. From 1953 he was part of clarinetist Eiji Kitamura's band. Imada had his own trio from 1964. He formed Now'in, a fusion band, in 1984. He played internationally at jazz festivals from the 1970s.