Education
He attended Nihon University.
山本剛
He attended Nihon University.
Yamamoto was largely self-taught as a pianist, although he did have piano lessons as a child. As a student there, he played professionally, first as an accompanist to popular singer Micky Curtis. They toured Europe in 1967.
In 1974, he became house pianist at Misty, a Tokyo jazz club
He also made his recording debut as leader that year. He played major international festivals in the late 1970s.
He also "lived in New York for a year, when he performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae, Sam Jones, Billy Higgins, Elvin Jones, and Sonny Stitt, among others"
Commenting on Yamamoto"s 2008 album What a Wonderful Trio!, Audiophile Audition noted that "Yamamoto seems to favor the very highest reaches of the treble keyboard with great gusto".