Hailing from Tucson, Arizona, Kenji Ono Lancaster is a drummer and composer with a thoughtful, interactive, and sensitive approach to music that has proven valuable both in and beyond the jazz idiom.

Post-academia, Kenji has continued to cover vast swaths of musical ground, with his recorded music being featured on BBC6 Radio. As well, his original composition, “Tired”, was featured on Radiofrance’s FIP. He has also opened for international acts Echo & the Bunnymen and Glass Beams. He has toured nationally around the American Southwest playing at esteemed jazz venues such as The Black Cat in San Fransisco as well as regular performances as The Century Room in Tucson. He has also toured internationally in Japan and Mexico. Locally, he has supported a host of artists including Nick Finzer, Chuck Redd, Eric Alexander, and many others.

Kenji is an alumni of the Tucson Jazz Institute, a well-regarded educational institution that brought him to both the Monterrey Next Gen Jazz Festival as well as the JEN Festival New Orleans. During his collegiate career at the University of Arizona, he studied with Arthur Vint, and had private instruction with Kenny Washington and Kweku Sumbry. In university & conglomerate jazz ensembles, Kenji has had the opportunity to support touring artists such as Gerald Clayton, Christian McBride, Mike Moreno, Terell Stafford, and Alex Norris.