Akiko Tsuruga, a true jazz virtuoso celebrated for her mastery of the Hammond B-3 organ, passed away on September 13 in Brooklyn at the age of 58. Her remarkable career spanned a prolific solo journey and significant collaborations, notably with the legendary saxophone master Lou Donaldson.
Her husband, Joe Magnarelli, a fellow jazz trumpeter, confirmed that she died in a hospital following a brief illness.
Born in Japan, Ms. Tsuruga carved a distinct niche for herself in the predominantly male American jazz scene over the past two and a half decades. She wielded the majestic B-3 — with its twin 61-note keyboards, bass pedals, and tonal drawbars — to craft an astonishingly broad spectrum of sounds.
Mr. Magnarelli, who frequently performed alongside her, recalled her dynamic musical expression. “Sometimes it sounded like a meteor coming from outer space,” he recounted. “Sometimes it was a Mack truck coming down Route 80 at 100 miles an hour. Sometimes it would be snowflakes.”
An image shows the organist Akiko Tsuruga performing in Chicago in 2010. One reviewer praised her, saying she “artfully straddles the line of picture-perfect restraint and no-holds-barred gut-busting.” (Photo credit: Michael Jackson)
Her music was always rooted in a deep bluesy, funky essence. Critic Howard Reich, writing for the Chicago Tribune in 2012, observed, “Akiko Tsuruga immigrated to the United States from Japan in 2001, but sometimes she sounds almost as if she grew up on the South Side of Chicago.”
She released nine albums as a bandleader, beginning with “Harlem Dreams” in 2004. This debut album featured esteemed musicians such as drummer Grady Tate, celebrated for his work with Ella Fitzgerald, and saxophonist and flutist Frank Wess, a former member of the Count Basie Orchestra.
Another review of that same 2012 Chicago concert, published in DownBeat magazine by Hilary Brown, highlighted Ms. Tsuruga’s ability to balance “picture-perfect restraint and no-holds-barred gut-busting as she churns out her own brand of bubbly B-3 soul-jazz.”
Ms. Tsuruga gained significant recognition through her performances with Lou Donaldson, a pioneer of the hard bop style. Donaldson first witnessed her talent at Showman’s, a renowned Harlem club, in 2007.
“He said to me, ‘You’re better than any of the guys I know here in New York,’” Ms. Tsuruga shared in an interview with Hot House, a New York jazz magazine, last year.
Shortly after, she was invited to join his band, and Donaldson became a crucial mentor. “Lou said that I needed to learn how to comp behind horn players and that he was going to teach me,” she recalled in a recent interview with Flophouse, an online jazz magazine.
A photograph shows Ms. Tsuruga with Lou Donaldson at the 2017 Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan. She worked with Mr. Donaldson from 2007 until his death last year. (Photo credit: Alan Nahigian)
This enduring collaboration included numerous global tours, showcasing their musical synergy to audiences worldwide.
Before Ms. Tsuruga, another influential organist, Lonnie Smith, had held the position in Mr. Donaldson’s band. Reflecting on their interactions, Ms. Tsuruga told City, a Rochester, N.Y., culture magazine in 2018, “Sometimes we played together. I realized there was a difference and I asked him, why was he different? He said it was rhythm, and he said, ‘Don’t just play, put your emotions into every note.’”
Akiko Tsuruga was born on September 1, 1967, in Osaka, Japan, the eldest of three children to Koji and Hiroko (Kiyonaga) Tsuruga. Her father owned a manufacturing company.
Her musical journey began early, guided by her jazz-loving grandmother. She started studying at a local Yamaha music school at just three years old and instantly fell in love with the organ. Despite being too young to reach the pedals, she ingeniously played the bass lines with her left hand while handling chords and melody with her right, as she recounted to Hot House last year.
A black-and-white close-up portrait of Ms. Tsuruga from 2000 shows her smiling broadly. She once stated, “I felt that I could show my emotion more on the organ. I want to play like a big band by myself.” (Photo credit: Michael Jackson)
By her late teens, Ms. Tsuruga was regularly performing piano and organ in an Osaka lounge. It was there that she solidified her decision to specialize in the organ.
After graduating from the Osaka College of Music in 1988, she honed her skills at a local jazz club. This club became a magnet for visiting musicians, including trumpeter Roy Hargrove and Grady Tate, who would often join for late-night sets. Both Tate and others encouraged her to move to New York to further her promising career.
Throughout her years in the United States, Ms. Tsuruga frequently toured Japan as a solo artist. Her final album, “Beyond Nostalgia,” was released earlier this year.
She is survived by her husband, Joe Magnarelli; her mother; her sister, Naomi; and her brother, Shingo.
In a 2018 interview, Ms. Tsuruga articulated her passion for the organ, explaining that it allowed her to express more emotion. “I want to play like a big band by myself,” she declared, a testament to her ambitious and singular vision.