Mitsuru Okayama
My favorite jazz pianist of all time is of course Eugen Cicero. The first encounter with Eugen Cicero was when I was a college student. I had a chance to listen to some EC LPs that my father owned. I still remember how impressed I was at that time. My father only had a few records, so I started going around to record stores to look for other EC LPs. Eventually, through online auctions and importing from overseas, I was able to collect dozens of albums.
During that time, I got to know Kazue Hirano through Thomas' introduction, and Thomas-san and Pavel-san gave me unreleased recordings, so I think I have covered most of the music on the market now, although there may be some still lying dormant.
My favorite album is "Live at The Berlin Philharmonie".
It's a performance from the golden age of EC, and I feel it's divine.
I've loved to draw since I was a child, and I graduated from a design university to make it my career.
Here are two portraits of Eugen which I made.
Tokyo, 1972
Wien, 1991
Eugen Cicero - Collection of Mitsuru Okayama
