"Akira Sakata (坂田明; born 21 February 1945 in Kure, Hiroshima) is a Japanese free jazz saxophonist.

Sakata began studying music seriously at high school, where he played clarinet.[1] He played alto sax in a jazz band when at Hiroshima University.[1] He trained as a marine biologist.

Sakata joined the Yamashita Yosuke Trio from 1972 till 1979 and toured internationally with them. In 1986, he performed with Last Exit with Bill Laswell. This performance was released as 1987's Noise of Trouble: Last Exit Live in Tokyo. Laswell went on to play bass on and produce Sakata albums such as Mooko, Silent Plankton and Fisherman's.com, the last of which also featured the reclusive Pete Cosey (who had worked with Miles Davis) on guitar.[2]

In 1994, Sakata organized a one-month tour of Uzbekistan, Mongolia and China with the Flying Mijinko Band, consisting of 14 members from Japan, Africa and America. Some of those included were Laswell, Anton Fier and Foday Musa Suso.

He has more recently worked with DJ Krush[3] and Chikamorachi (Darin Gray and Chris Corsano)."

"Nicolas Field is born in London in 1975. He studied drums and percussion at the Amsterdam Conservatorium (1996-2002), sonology at The Hague Conservatorium (1997-2002) and "Art and media" at HEAD in Geneva (2007-2009). He has received multiple awards and was artist in residence at the Swiss Institute in Rome (2010-11), AirAntwerpen (2011), Belluard Bollwerk international (2013&2014) and Johannesburg South-Africa (2015).

Early 2000, he starts travelling through Europe as a drummer with different bands (improvised music, contemporary music and jazz). Over time and tours, that also take him to the US, Japan, Corea and Australia, Nicolas Field collaborates with musicians such as Tetuzi Akyama (guitar), Akira Sakata (saxophone), Otomo Yoshihide (guitar), Keiji Haino (guitar), the band Cactus Truck, Didi Bruckmayr (vocals), Jacques Demierre (piano), Gilles Aubry (electronics) or Fritz Welch (drums/vocals).

In parallel, in 2008, Nicolas Field starts building his first visual art works, taking the shape of sound installation. His works has been shown in particular at the Maison d'Ailleurs in Yverdon (2008 - Think Thrice), at Lift Geneva (2010- Think Thrice), at the Design biennale in St-Etienne (2010 - Think Thrice), at Crisalide Festival in Forli (2011 - Shimmering Beast), at Burgtheater in Vienna (2012 - Shimmering Beast), at the "Corpo 6" gallery in Berlin (2012 - Making a mess for the masses) and at Netwerk-center for contemporary art in Aalst (2014 - Shimmering Beast and All Tones).

Since 2006, Nicolas Field has been working for dance and theater. In 2012, he composes music for "Caligula" directed by Jan Lauwers (Needcompany) at the Burgtheater in Vienna. In 2014, he is also part of Marie-Caroline Hominal's project "Ballet" at the Bâtie Festival. He is presently working on a new production with Needcompany and Maison DahlBonnema "Rhythm conference feat. InnerSplits"."