"Aki Takase ( ) (born January 26, 1948) is a Japanese jazz pianist and composer.

Takase was born in Osaka and started to play piano at age 3. Raised in Tokyo, Takase studied classical piano at Toho Gakuen School of Music. Starting in 1978, she performed and recorded in the US. Her collaborators included with Lester Bowie, Sheila Jordan, David Liebman, and John Zorn. Her first Euopean appearance was in 1981 at the Berlin Jazz Festival in Germany. She instantly became one of the most sought after musicians, who was touring constantly the main international jazzfestivals.

For many years, she has been working with her husband Alexander von Schlippenbach, as well as with Eugene Chadbourne, Han Bennink, Evan Parker, Paul Lovens, Fred Frith and others, and in duets with Maria Jo‹o, David Murray and Rudi Mahall.

In various projects, Takase has dealt with famous jazz musicians: Duke Ellington (1990), Thelonious Monk (1994), Eric Dolphy (1998), W.C. Handy (2002), Fats Waller (2004), and Ornette Coleman (2006).

In 2002, Takase recorded with writer Yoko Tawada. Takase had read some of Tawada's poems, and, as the writer reported, she "started composing melodies and settings for my texts. When we got together, I read my poems in the same way that I always read them out loud. Aki played, listened carefully to the poems, and started improvising." In later performances, Takase used more unconventional instruments when accompanying Tawada.

Since 1987, Takase has lived in Berlin."

"Silke Eberhard is a saxophonist, clarinetist and composer based in Berlin. In addition to her long-standing trio with Jan Roder and Kay Lübke she leads her wind quartet Potsa Lotsa that interprets the compositional work of Eric Dolphy and her septett Potsa Lotsa Plus. She works with many collective ensembles including a duo with Ulrich Gumpert, a duo with drummer Alex Huber, the trio I am Three. She performed and/or recorded with numerous musicians of the international jazzscene such as Aki Takase, David Liebman, Wayne Horvitz, Dave Burrell, Gerry Hemingway, Michael Zerang, Hannes Zerbe a.m.o. CDs on record labels like Jazzwerkstatt, Not Two, Leo, INTAKT, Intuition document her work. Her album Potsa Lotsa Love Suite Plus plays by Eric Dolphy was awarded the Prize of the German Record Critics 2015/1."