Akihiro Nishiguchi was born and raised in Japan with great family and friends.
At age of 12,He went to Konan junior high school where he had met Big band jazz for the first time. He took private lesson with Hiroshi Ozone for 5years since he was 18 years old,and his serious study of the tenor saxophone began.
In 1997, He won the first prize from the Student Jazz Festivals that is held every year by Japan Association for Jazz Education.
While attending the Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto(His major was Psychology), he started to perform with his own band.
In 2003, He was awarded a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music. And,he decided to become a musician and moved to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music in 2004.
At Berklee, He had opportunities to study with Joe Lovano, Hal Crook, George Garzone,Dave Santoro and Frank Tiberi; also, he had a honor of being the first Saxophone chair in the Berklee’s finest large ensembles: the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra that is led by Greg Hopkins and the Rainbow Band that is led by Phil Wilson.
Since coming to Boston, He has toured Ecuador, USA and Japan. In addition, he played the International Association of Jazz Educators annual conference in 2006.
Recently, He graduated from Berklee College of Music with honors and moved to New York City.
He has had many opportunities to share the stage with: Joe Lovano, Makoto Ozone, Greg Hopkins, Phil Wilson, Manhattan Jazz Orchestra, Benny Powell, Jason Palmer, George Garzone, Jimmy Heath, Bob Mintzer, Yellow Jackets, Sadao Watanabe, Willie Jones III, and more.
Moreover, he has performed at prestigious Jazz festivals and places, such as, Phoenix Jazz Festival (Japan), Caramoor Jazz Festival (New York), Swing 46 (New York), Blues Alley Jazz Festival (Washington DC), Casa De La Musica (Ecuador), Cleopatra’s Needle (New York), Ryle’s (Boston), Wally’s Jazz Club (Boston), Le Club Jazz (Kyoto),Satin Doll(Kobe) and more.
