Takaaki Otomo is a jazz piano player based in NYC, originally from Hyogo,Japan. He began playing classical piano at the age of 5. At 15, he encountered jazz music by listening to Oscar Peterson. Studying under Tadao Kitano, one of the most renowned players in western Japan, he proved his ability by becoming the first winner of the grand prize at the Kobe Next Jazz Competition in October 2007. He moved to NYC in 2014.

Since he moved to NYC, he has been playing at numerous jazz venues in NYC, such as Jazz at Kitano, Cleopatra’s needle, Pisticci, Arturo’s etc. In 2017, he released his leader album called “New Kid In Town” produced by Bernard Hoffer with Noriko Ueda(bass) and Jared Schonig(drums).