(Posted today on the TONY Blog)

The downtown New York jazz scene lost one of its busiest, most creative souls last weekend when percussionist Take Toriyama
passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. We received the sad news late
this afternoon in an e-mail from Michaël Attias, curator of the
excellent weekly series "Night of the Ravished Limbs" at Barbès in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Born in the small town of Chiba, Japan, Takeaki Toriyama found early
success playing in a popular Japanese rock band. In search of something
more musically satisfying, he came to the U.S. in 1993 to study at the
Berklee College of Music. Toriyama arrived in Brooklyn in 2000, and
quickly established himself as one of the scene’s most promising
newcomers. Some weeks it seemed that he was practically the house
drummer at Barbès, one of the city’s most vital music venues.

Among the many performers whose live dates and recordings Toriyama
graced are seasoned figures such as Jimmy Heath, Dave Liebman, Chick
Corea, Danilo Perez and George Garzone, as well as rising stars
including Attias, Ben Monder, Loren Stillman, Russ Lossing, Anat Fort
and Monika Heidemann. He was a member of Matt Moran’s uproarious Slavic
Soul Party!, and played on the band’s outstanding recent release, Teknochek Collision.

Members of SSP! and other musicians whose lives Toriyama touched
will be gathering this Sunday, June 3 at 1pm to honor his memory with a
musical march, which will start at the 9th Street entrance to Prospect
Park and make its way to Barbès (9th St at Sixth Ave). Toriyama’s
family has flown in from Japan; private donations will be accepted to
defray their travel and funeral costs. It would be a lovely thing for
them to see firsthand the many, many local listeners whose lives were
enriched for all too short a time by Toriyama’s lively playing and
joyous spirit.

Go here for Darcy James Argue’s touching, detailed post.