Casiopea (カシオペア Kashiopea) was a Japanese jazz fusion band that was formed in 1976 by guitarist Issei Noro, bassist Tetsuo Sakurai and keyboardist Hidehiko Koike. In 1977, keyboardist Minoru
Mukaiya and drummer Takashi Sasaki joined the group, leaving Hidehiko out of Casiopea. The group debuted with the self-title album Casiopea in 1979, featuring Randy Brecker and Michael Brecker as guest musicians. In 1980, Takashi was replaced by Akira Jimbo. Casiopea has released over 30 albums to date in both Japan and the United States.
Some of Casiopea's most famous tracks include Asayake, Galactic Funk and Eyes of The Mind. Galactic Funk first featured in their 1981 album "Crosspoint" which had around 10 different versions recorded both live and in studio.
Casiopea has been countlessly regarded as "similar" to the British band Level 42. Also, Casiopea has played live with various artists such as Level 42, The Square (now known as T-Square and Sync DNA (A Drumming Duo of Casiopea's Akira Jimbo, and T-Square's Hiroyuki Noritake).
The album Eyes of the Mind was released in the United States in 1981. They then released the album Mint Jams in 1982, followed by Four by Four the same year, which was a collaborative album with Lee Ritenour, Harvey Mason, Nathan East and Don Grusin (all except Don Grusin later became founding members of Fourplay). Their first overseas concert was held in the United Kingdom in 1983. The group has toured Europe, South America, Australia, and Southeast Asia.
In 1989, Akira Jimbo and Tetsuo Sakurai left the band following several years of musical differences. They later formed their own duo-band, Jimsaku. For their replacement, Casiopea chose Yoshihiro Naruse (bass) and Masaaki Hiyama (drums).
In 1993, the group once again changed its members. Noriaki Kumagai came to replace Masaaki. Then in 1997, Akira returned to Casiopea, this time as a part-time member, recording more albums and again contributing some of the compositions.
In 2006, Issei Noro, the group's leader, decided to freeze all activities of the band until further notice.
However, A limited-edition box set almost all of Casiopea's Albums called "Legend of Casiopea" has been released on May 27, 2009 in Japan. It features 2 Albums that were never released as a CD, the first of which is called "Cuts", and the 2nd of which is called "Air-Skip".
