Tatsuya Ando

Tatsuya Ando is a sincere identity pursuer. Born in Hamamatsu, Japan, he is the son of engineer Yoshiki Ando and educator Tomoyo Ando. He was exposed at an early age to a variety of musics (jazz, classical, rock, soul, Indian, Indonesian, Middle-Eastern, African) and instruments (recorder, piano, guitar, drums, djembe) before switching to what became his primary instrument, the tenor saxophone. The early influences of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Cannonball Adderley and Steve Lacy, as well as The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, Earth, Wind and Fire, Prince, The Police and Led Zeppelin drew Tatsuya more deeply into music. But although Tatsuya loved playing the saxophone and was a dedicated member of Ensemble and Combo from 2001-05, academics were always his first priority, and he never seriously considered becoming a professional musician. In 2007 Tatsuya graduated from Science University of Tokyo with a M.E.