Akira Tana’s Osaka Quartet

Born and raised in California, Akira Tana earned degrees from Harvard University and the New Conservatory of Music. Tana has worked with, among others, Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt, Zoot Sims, Hubert Laws, Milt Jackson, Jim Hall, Art Farmer, the Paul Winter Consort, Paquito D’Rivera, James Moody, J.J. Johnson, Lena Horne, the Manhattan Transfer, Ruth Brown, Charles Aznavour, Maurice Hines, and Van Dyke Parks. He has appeared on over 200 recordings.

In the ’90s, Tana co-led a quintet with the bassist Rufus Reid called TanaReid, which has five releases: Yours and Mine and Passing Thoughts on Concord Records, and Blue Motion, Looking Forward, and Back to Front on Evidence Music. On Sons of Sound, Akira has two releases as a leader: Moon Over the World and Secret Agent Men.

The third US release on Sons of Sound as a leader is a project by the Secret Agent Men Band, playing themes from the James Bond movies, entitled Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, featuring vocalist Annie Sellick. A fourth release on VegaMusic-USA is a project entitled JAZZaNOVA, featuring vocalists Claudio Amaral, Claudia Villela, Jackie Ryan, Carla Helmbrecht, and Sandy Cressman. Guest artists include Branford Marsalis and Arturo Sandoval. Also available are three recent releases as a leader: Otonowa, Stars Across the Ocean, and Ai San San (Love’s Radiance), which feature jazz interpretations of Japanese folk and pop melodies dating back as far as the 1800s. This group has completed seven goodwill/charity tours of Tohoku, performing and teaching for communities still rebuilding from the earthquake/tsunami of 2011.

In 2025, Tana released Loving Burt Bacharach which features Hammond B3 organist Atsuko Hashimoto and vocalist Jackie Ryan on the Thousand Days label.

As an active teacher and clinician, Tana has taught at Rutgers University, Queens College, Jersey City State College, New York, San Francisco State University, and the California Jazz Conservatory. He is currently on the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory. Additionally, you can catch Tana hosting “Morning Cup of Jazz” on KCSM Jazz 91.