Senri Oe

Jazz Pianist & Composer

“Pop meets jazz-jazz meets pop.”

CLASS OF ‘88 on sale June 30th, 2023

All songs composed by Senri Oe, with recordings featuring:

Senri Oe (piano)

Matt Clohesy (acoustic bass)

Ross Pederson (drums)

Senri Oe’s new album, CLASS OF ‘88, is a second masterful translation of his iconic pop songs into jazz. An expansion of the concept in his critically acclaimed 2018 album Boys & Girls, it re-imagines songs Oe wrote and performed during his stadium filling days as a J-pop star. Whereas Boys & Girls was arranged for solo piano, CLASS OF ‘88 incorporates his dynamic trio. Oe’s 1988 album 1234 became a classic recording in the history of J-pop, and CLASS OF ‘88 transforms these nostalgic songs into new and bold jazz, celebrating milestones and experiences across his career. This evolution is at the heart of the artistic vision of pop star turned Jazz musician Senri Oe. Oe recently released his seventh jazz album, titled Letter to N.Y., completely self-produced digitally while in isolation during the pandemic-to follow his sensational first-ever trio album

Hmmm in 2019 on PND Records / Sony Music Direct (Japan) / Sony Music Masterworks. All seven of his jazz albums follow a remarkable career as a former J-Pop superstar in the 80’s and 90’s. Leaving his pop career behind in 2008 to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz artist, Senri moved to New York City to study in The New School’s Jazz and Contemporary Music program. He subsequently released his jazz albums BOYS & GIRLS (2018), ANSWER JULY (2016), COLLECTIVE SCRIBBLE (2015), SPOOKY HOTEL (2013) and BOYS MATURE SLOW (2012).

As a multi-faceted singer-songwriter, actor, and radio host in Japan, Senri has been the recipient of a Japan Record Award (the equivalent of a Japanese Grammy), he has topped the Billboard charts, headlined stadiums, performed on TV dramas, and his hits have been used in major Japanese TV commercials, movies and more. Since his drastic change of music career launched via his 2012 jazz album debut, Senri has long thrived on building relationships with other artists and creating fresh musical collaborations. He has produced and arranged collaborative recordings by Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer, and has recorded with renowned jazz vocal greats Sheila Jordan, Theo Bleckmann, Becca Stevens and Lauren Kinhan of the Grammy Award winning vocal ensemble New York Voices.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Senri Oe performed at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, Detroit Jazz Festival, Albania Jazz Festival, Blue Note NY, Smalls, Blue Note Hawaii, Blue Note Tokyo, Vitello’s in Los Angeles, PianoForte in Chicago, Gregory’s Jazz Club in Rome and many more. Aside from Blue Note New York, he often performs at NYC venues such as Tomi Jazz, Zinc, the Jazz Gallery, Birdland Theater, Soho House, Smalls and Dixon Place. He has been invited to be a guest on a number of television shows, radio shows, and in online news outlets. During the pandemic, Senri aided charities by streaming from home, generating donations for people in need in Mexico, Canada, Ireland, Asia and the U.S., in addition to doing a charitable live performance at Blue Note New York streaming to Japan. His short piano composition TOGETHERNESS was selected as one of the top forty songs about the Covid-19 pandemic by AP press, alongside Bon Jovi, Bono, Gloria Estephan, Alicia Keys, Rolling Stones, and Norah Jones amongothers.

Senri Oe is a consummate musician creating a bridge between multiple genres andgenerations, developing a new era of jazz, both in himself and in the world at large.