Motohiko Hino

Motohiko "Toko" Hino (January 3, 1946 in Tokyo – May 13, 1999) was a Japanese jazz drummer.

Hino's father, who was a dancer and musician, taught Hino and his brother, Terumasa Hino, tap dancing as children.^[1] At the age of ten, Hino began playing drums, and by age 17 was playing professionally.

In the mid-1970s, Hino was repeatedly voted by Swing Journal the best jazz drummer in Japan,^[1] though from 1978 he was based in New York City. He released an album under his own name in 1971 and two more in the early 1990s, and played with musicians such as JoAnne Brackeen, Joe Henderson, Takehiro Honda, Karen Mantler, Hugh Masekela, John Scofield, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Sonny Rollins.

He died in 1999 of cancer.

Discography

• First Album (Sony Japan, 1971)
• Sailing Stone (Grammavision Records, 1992)
• It's There (Enja Records, 1993)

With Jon Faddis and Billy Harper

• Jon & Billy (Trio, 1974)

References