Hironobu Saito - The Remaining 2% (2004)

Guitarist and composer Hironobu Saito is from Miyazaki, Japan. In 1990 he won an award at a teen music festival, and soon afterwards, he began his professional career playing at various clubs throughout Japan. After graduating from Otani University in Kyoto, he won a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in 1999. He has studied with various artists such as Joe Lovano, Mick Goodrick, Hal Crook, Richie Hart, Mark Whitfield, Adam Rodgers, Kiyohito Koizumi and others.

He has played and recorded with artists such as pianists Geoff Keezer, Stephen Scott, Robert Glasper, Danny Grisett, Aaron Parks and Dan Kaufman; vibraphonists Joe Locke and Warren Wolf; trumpeters Roy Hargrove and Sean Jones; drummers Kendrick Scott, Eric Harland, Quincy Davis, John Lamkin and Marty Morell; bassists Dwayne Burno, Marco Panascia and Luques Curtis; saxophonists Walter Smith, John Ellis and Jaleel Shaw; and guitarists Lionel Loueke and Peter Bernstein.

In 2002 he acted as a representative for the Berklee Guitar Department, and toured Japan as a cultural exchange event in Kyoto City. Hiro was the recipient of the Berklee Guitar Department Achievement Award, and in October 2003, he placed 2nd in the Gibson Jazz Guitar Competition. He has been featured in magazines such as Swing Journal, Jazz Life and the Jazz Guitar Book, the website allaboutjazz.com, and many others.

In 2004, he recorded his first CD, The Remaining 2% with Darren Barrett, John Lamkin, Walter Smith, Milton Fletcher and Yasushi Nakamura. He is endorsed by Ibanez guitars.