A former Silicon Valley technologist Yoshi Senzaki’s passion for playing the traditional Chicago Blues spans more than three decades. 

    Born in Osaka, he grew up influenced in his younger days by the big blues boom that took place in Japan in the 1970’s. 

    After moving to the U.S. from Japan in 1987, he has been based in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and recently back to SF South Bay, where he continues playing the blues. 

    In 1996 he played guitar for a gospel choir at the Mt Zion Baptist Church in Los Angeles. Enlightened by the exposure to gospel music, he also added vocals to his performances from this point on. 

    From 2013 to 2016, Yoshi hosted the weekly blues jam at the Blue Note Lounge located in San Jose, California.  Lasting for over 3 years in total of nearly 200 shows, it was one of the longest-running jams in the South Bay area. 

     While in Chicago from 2017 to 2020, in parallel to leading his own band, he was with J.W. Williams & The Chi-Town Hustlers (pic.). For 2 years he regularly performed with them at Chicago’s premier blues clubs such as Blue Chicago, B.L.U.E.S., and Kingston Mines.

     Yoshi tours to Japan annually performing with top-notch blues players. His blues guitar album entitled “South Bound via Chicago”, representing his affection for Blues and Soul music, was released in 2015.