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Kaoru Abe 阿部 薫 was born on May 5, 1949 in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. Self-taught at a young age, at 17 he dropped out of highschool in 1967 to focus on perfecting his playing. The following year he played his first performance at a jazz spot named Oreo.

He generally performed solo but played with notables Motoharu Yoshizawa, Takehisa Kosugi, Yosuke Yamashita, Derek Bailey, and Milford Graves. In 1970, Laoru met guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi and recorded with him.

Abe was prolific, appearing almost every day to jazz spots and concerts. His library consists almost entirely of archival and live recordings, however he has done studio recordings.

His later years saw Kaoru playing different instruments like the bass clarinet throughout his career. By 1976 for two years he was mostly explorative with the harmonica. He was portrayed in Kōji Wakamatsu’s film Endless Waltz by novelist and punk rock singer Kō Machida.

Avant-garde alto saxophonist Kaoru Abe transitioned on September 9, 1978 from Bromisoval overdose causing an acute gastric perforation.

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