1 – First of all, a little curiosity....What's the meaning of your're stage name, Playa a.k.a KATOKUNNLEE? Playa means it by the slang word of HIPHOP of the Playboy.
KATOKUNNLEE is the same name of the wrestler in Mexico, Because of my family name Katou.
2 - Your musical production is really ecletic. You can find latin, carribean, brasilian, hip-hop and many others influences....How would you define it? →It divides into the listener who listens to only home country music or The listener who listens to only foreign music, roughly ,in Japan I think.Though I am the latter, I think it's a Tokyo style because listening to various music for who lives in Tokyo is popular.
3 – Japan is a really far country from Italy..what can you tell us about your contry's dance scene? The Japanese is shy and not accustomed to the dance because the history of the club scene is shallow, I think, So I hope that people become more Latin like. And It's good that I'm useful for it.
4 – You play since 1992. How did you get close to music in the beginning? → I united the band in the high school age, played JIMI HENDRIX and Santana,And in the room, danced crazy in James Brown and RUN D M C. Afterwards It became a present style starting with playing as a DJ at the party that friend organized.
5 - How is changed the electro scene in all these years according to your point of view? →It is thought that electro scene recently is a result of the combination of the 80'S music that's the Stevie wonder played with a talk-box with the house music, and being promoted to a present popular music.
6 – During these years, in your project you co-operated with lot of artists. How are these partnership arose and how do you choose the artists to co-operate with? →Usually I try to call and make friends with new artists whom I pay attention that I knew in live and the record shop. It's the extension of friendship when they cooperate and also when I cooperate.
7 – We chose for the compilation attached to the magazine your song Odorama Dreams...what can you tell about that?
→"Odorama Dreams" is an album by the way of recording that mostly doesn't seem like band, When coming to a standstill the band activity.
Because I was aiming at a pop work that does a maniac way of making, it is very glad to like. Please keep checking the PLAYA in the near future.
They are the new generation of club jazz unit by Atsushi Sano, who has been DJ'ing based in Tokyo, and KATOKUNNLEE, who has been releasing musical works as the club jazz unit, PLAYA.
They started making tracks since 2007, and you can call them truly modern new generation jazz musicians with their unique style where they repeat sessions with other players based on the idea of a jam band.
They have been recognized by major DJ's already. Their masterpiece "BALKAN BLUE" is a tremendous jazz dance tune with its hot latin percussions, powerful horns, and the passionate piano. It has become the talk of the town since major DJ's like Kei Kobayashi have played it even during the demo phase.
JAZZ CONVERSATION E.P. 12EP HUSH BROWN RECORDS HBLP001
LATIN CONVERSATION E.P. 12EP HUSH BROWN RECORDS HBLP002
1st ALBUM CONVERSATION
CD (2009/6/3) ディスク枚数: 1 レーベル: HUSH BROWN 収録時間: 54 分 ASIN: B0025W1G68
曲目リスト 1. Les Clandestins Du Jazz 2. Balkan Blue 3. Melody Rising 4. Take A Look Around 5. It’s Me Again 6. Music Crossing Way 7. Mambo Souce 8. Love You More 9. Dance Des Casseroles 10. Catchup 11. Love You More -Vocal version 12. Mambo Souce -Gerardo Frisina Latin House Remix
