Kunihiko Sugano is a Japanese jazz pianist. Sugano was born on October 13th, 1936 in the Tokio Prefecture. Starting from the 1950s, he played in the Tokyo Jazzscene with George Kawaguchis “The Big 4”, and Isao Suzuki, among others. Later, Sugano has appeared with his own formations such as the Kunihiko Sugano Quartet and the Kunihiko Sugano Trio (with Eizō Honda).

 

 

Sugano’s talent was recognized by Tony Scott who he stayed in Japan for five years from 1959. Tony Scott played together with Kunihiko Sugano, Isao Suzuki and George Otsuka. Then Sugano was a member of the legendary Hidehiko Matsumoto Quartet.

 

In the 1960s and 70s, he released albums under his own name such as Finger Popping (1968, with Yoshio Ikeda, Hiroshi Yamazaki), Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (TBM, 1974, with Yoichi Kobayashi, Teruhiko Takada, Yoichi Ogawa), and Hullo again (1981, with Satoshi Kosugi, Joe Jones Jr.). 1973 saw Collaboration, a joint production with Eiji Kitamura (with Masanga Harada and Hiroshi Sunaga).

 

 

Together with bassist Isao Suzuki, he recorded 1980 the Duoalbum Sincerely Yours. Between 1967 and 2011, he participated in 10 jazz recording sessions. The sound engineer Okihiko Sugano is his oldest brother.