Tadataka Unno started playing piano at the age of 4, and Jazz piano at the age of 9. He began his career as a musician at the age of 18 while a student at Tokyo University of the Arts. He has performed with leading jazz artists in Japan including Yoshio Suzuki, Kimiko Ito, Masahiko Osaka and has been a standard-bearer for the younger generation.
In 2008, he moved to New York City to further explore the roots and culture of jazz. As he started his career from scratch, Unno was soon recognized by top musicians in his new home. Two pivotal opportunities arose in 2010, when Unno was selected as a participant in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program at the Kennedy Center (where he met his mentor, pianist George Cables) and then recommended for a spot in Chicago’s Lavinia Institute by legendary saxophonist Nathan Davis and trombone legend Curtis Fuller.
Unno has since been welcomed as an important new addition to the lineage of jazz. In 2013, he was the first Japanese pianist to perform with the Jimmy Cobb Trio at the Village Vanguard. In March 2022, he released his return album Get My Mojo Back on the Verve label and it became the top-selling new jazz album in Japan.