Akiko Tsuruga, whose sturdy rhythmic command and soulful melodic flair made her a leading jazz organist of her generation, died on Sept. 13 in Brooklyn, NY. She was 58.
Her husband, trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, said she passed after a short terminal illness.
At a glance, Tsuruga could seem an unlikely maven of the Hammond B-3 organ, or the soul-jazz tradition with which it’s intertwined. Like the young Shirley Scott, she cut a diminutive figure behind the console, defying a male-dominated field. But whereas Scott emerged from Philadelphia’s African-American community, Tsuruga was born and raised in Osaka, Japan.
Her undeniable talent and vernacular fluency led to vocal support from soul-jazz originators like the alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson, who featured her in his band for more than 15 years. Donaldson’s former organist and fellow NEA Jazz Master Dr. Lonnie Smith was a mentor to her, and her biggest stated influence. But Tsuruga was seen as a steward of the broader soul-jazz tradition on her instrument.
“She took the baton from Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff, legends like that,” Magnarelli tells WRTI. “I worked with Jack McDuff, and I can tell you that she definitely got that sound, the Harlem jazz organ sound. Not many people have it. She had it, and I would say that as an organist, she was a virtuoso. She could get sounds out of the organ that were just incredible.”
Mike LeDonne, a fellow organist, hails Tsuruga in a Facebook post as “one of the greats,” adding: “She had so much energy in her playing, and the longer she lived here, the deeper her playing got. Her bass lines were right in the pocket, and it was wonderful to hear her growth and watch her ascend to becoming one of the best organ players in the world. She tirelessly schlepped her keyboard and gear from place to place for her gigs. When she played, you could see the joy on her face because she was living her dream.”
Akiko Tsuruga was born on Sept. 1, 1967 in Osaka. Her father, Koji Tsuruga, owned a manufacturing company, and she received support in her musical interests from an early age. She was only 3 years old when she began studying at the Yamaha Music School, where the material ranged from classical to jazz to American folk songs. Her interest in the organ led to a moment she would later recall as transformative.
“I can remember the day when the organ arrived at my house,” she said in a 2024 interview with Hot House magazine. “The representative from the music store came and played a couple of tunes on it and I just thought, ‘wow.’ I fell in love with the organ immediately. When I first played that organ, I couldn’t reach the pedals, so I was playing the bass with my left hand and chords and melody with my right hand.”
Tsuruga continued her studies at the Osaka College of Music, but it was at a jazz joint called the Don Shop, across the street from the Osaka branch of the Blue Note club, where she honed her craft and made crucial connections. Noted jazz artists from America, headlining at the Blue Note, would drop by to hang out, often sitting in. One of them, drummer Grady Tate, encouraged her to move to New York.
When she did in 2001, she wasted no time: LeDonne recalls that on her first night in town, Tsuruga turned up at Showman’s Jazz Club in Harlem to see him play with tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon. “I let her sit in,” he writes, “and was impressed with all she already had together on the instrument.”
Tsuruga was soon playing at Showman’s herself, and it was there that she caught the attention of Donaldson, in 2007. “He said to me, ‘You’re better than any of the guys I know here in New York,’” she told Hot House. “Then he invited me to join his band.”
She made a number of albums with her own groups, the most recent of which was Beyond Nostalgia, released last year on the Steeplechase label. A typically surefooted effort, it features drummer Byron Landham and guitarist Ed Cherry in the rhythm section, behind a front line of Magnarelli and Weldon.
In addition to Magnarelli, to whom she was married for more than a decade, Tsuruga is survived by her mother, Hiroko Tsuruga; a brother, Shingo Tsuruga; and a sister, Naomi Tsuruga.
In addition to her work as a solo artist, Tsuruga was a member of the all-women collective Lioness, which released its debut, Pride & Joy, on Posi-Tone Records in 2018. (The label has hinted at a follow-up.) She also worked extensively with the Jeff Hamilton Organ Trio, with Hamilton on drums and Steve Kovalcheck on guitar. The group’s most recent album, Coast to Coast, was released this spring; its opening track, “Blues on Easy Street,” is a perfect showcase for Tsuruga’s style.
"Akiko plays her personality,” Hamilton has said. “Intense, positive, energetic and joyous. She plays to make others sound as good as they possibly can.”
