Hailing from the quaint Japanese town of Tsu City, Masayuki Hirano grew up studying classical piano, performing, and winning national awards. While performing as a youth, he would experience a drop in his body temperature and feel a chill down his neck. From thereafter, Yuki’s relationship with music was spiritually and emotionally based.

At 18, Yuki enrolled in Berklee. A then shy and unskilled pianist, Yuki spent hours alone in the piano practice rooms, teaching himself to play bass with the left hand, just to avoid having to ask others to play with him. His self study and experimentation led him to new music heroes like Lonnie Smith, Larry Young, and Larry Goldings in organ jazz, funk legends like Maceo Parker, the hip-hop stylings of Guru’s Jazzmatazz, and through the mentorship of Charles Haynes, gospel music.

Yuki has contributed his colorful and explosive stylings to the live and recorded music of Bilal Oliver and Talib Kweli, he’s performed live with Grammy Award Winning pianist, Robert Glasper, at a special tribute to the legendary Stevie Wonder, and frequently writes songs with artists like Jean and Marcus Baylor.