Ken Kobayashi is a Jazz based drummer in New York. He has performed at various venues such as Kavehaz, Cleopatra’s Needle, Smalls, Smoke, Garage Restaurant, Jazz at Kitano, MOMA PS1, and Cafe Bohemia. Throughout his career, he has played with numerous distinguished musicians including Ravi Coltrane, Anthony Coleman, Zoh Amba, Camila Nebbia, Steve Swell, Sam Newsome, Stephen Gauci, Ivo Perelman, Elliott Levin, Dan Nimmer, and Thomas Morgan. Album “Boundary,” released in 2018 by ESP-Disk, received a four-star rating from DownBeat. This album features 10 improvised tracks performed by trio with Megumi Yonezawa (piano) and Masa Kamaguchi (bass). Their free, creative, and poetic performances have garnered high praise from critics worldwide. In Japan, the album is distributing by King International, the most prestigious jazz market in Japan, and their support helped make the 2018 Japan tour a great success
He grew up and resides in Tokyo. Awarded the Bachelor of Art Science from University and simultaneously began his musical career as a drummer. He deepened his knowledge of contemporary art and music, aiming to establish his own style through artistic ideas.
After deepening his connections with various young artists and players in Tokyo, he moved to New York, where he studied more complex drumming techniques in jazz and world music at the Drummers Collective. Since then, he has pursued his music by collaborating with various musicians at different venues in New York.
Recently, he has been challenging himself to revisit his music through various collaborations to further develop his sound. He has released original works that incorporate contemporary jazz, free jazz, Latin music, Eastern European music, Arab music, and electronic sounds.
From 2023 to 2024, he was hosting a series of 20 improvisational performances at MOMA PS1, collaborating with many distinguished musicians active in the New York improvisation scene, which has been well received. Additionally, a live recording of our trio’s performance will be released by gaucimusic recordings soon.