Kazuo ‘Kaz’ Kajimura, who ran the most important jazz venue in Northern California for decades, has died following a battle with dementia.
News of his passing was made public on the website of Yoshi’s, the popular jazz and sushi spot in Oakland that flourished under Kajimura’s watchful eye for more than a half century.
“With heavy hearts, we are sharing that the great San Francisco Bay Area has lost one of it’s legends,” a post reads on the Yoshi’s website. “On Jun 15, Kazuo ‘Kaz’ Kajimura joined his mother Yoshi Kajimura & father Noriyuki Kajimura in heaven.”
Kajimura will be remembered for tireless work ethic — famously working 12-16 hour days — as he worked to lift Yoshi’s from its humble beginnings as a small 27-seat Japanese restaurant in Berkeley to an internationally recognized jazz venue that hosted the genre’s greatest talents over the last 50-plus years.
“Yoshi’s is like no other place on Earth!” Kajimura is quoted as saying. “Everyone loves this place, it is amazing and beyond gratifying to see how we host so many talented artists, bringing all communities and everyone together with music, helping so many businesses with noble fundraisers, and exposing the new generation to real music!”
Kajimura worked to create a venue that not only fans loved to visit — but artists loved to play. It was the type of place that musicians would look forward to reaching on the tour itinerary, knowing that they were going to get a great performance setting, appreciative fans and, perhaps best of all, plenty of great sushi.
“It’s the best club that I’ve played,” legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson once said of Yoshi’s.
Having earned a bachelors degree at the prestigious Waseda University in Japan — and then later a masters degree in China — Kajimura would then move to the Bay Area to earn a masters degree in journalism at U.C. Berkeley. (Later, he’d further add to his already bountiful degree total by adding an MBA from Stanford.)
In 1972, Kajimura and his two partners — cook/painter Hugh “Hiro” Hori and artist Yoshie Akiba — opened a small restaurant in Berkeley. They decided to call it “Yoshi’s” after Akiba (although Kajimura’s mother was also named Yoshi).
Kaz was a local icon, and founder of Yoshi’s Claremont, Yoshi’s San Francisco and Yoshi’s Oakland. Since 1972, Yoshi’s became Kaz’s passion, and his life’s dedication. Those that had the privilege to work with Kaz, knew he was no stranger to working 10 to 16 hours days, 6 days a week…for over 50 years! Kaz invested his whole life and his whole family inheritance to navigate Yoshi’s through both different locations, and really tough times. Yoshi’s Oakland wouldn’t exist without him.
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