When Tokyo blues-jazz guitarist Hiroshi Takashima, Maui pianist Shiro Mori, and Honolulu Jazz Quartet bassist John Kolivas (with Osaka’s Hiroshi Hata) got together onstage for the September 26, 2009 Jazz Guitar Summit at the Honolulu Academy of Art’s Doris Duke Theatre, they made their instruments sing in harmony.

This Monday, they’ll do it again for the Honolulu Academy of Art’s “Jazz on a Monday Night,” 7:30 p.m.

Visiting guest star Takashima makes playing his high-level, bluesy guitar look easy, but then he’s been into playing music in one way or another since he was only four years old. Early on, the Yamagata, Japan-born Takashima discovered a flair for arrangements, which he would do for his friends. His arrangements would lead him to the tops in the Koga Awards, as well as work with orchestra bands, gigging regularly with the Fumio Itabashi Group, Ushio Sakai Trio, and George Kawaguchi Super Band—before making a way for himself with his own, Hiroshi Takashima & the Soul Meeting.

Several top albums, a commercial, guitarist categories, venues and festivals later, the fluid guitarist and sometime Japanese TV/radio star is still going strong, touring occasionally, teaching music students, and giving lectures.

For more info: “Jazz on a Monday Night” starts at 7:30 p.m., March 28, at the Honolulu Academy of Arts-Doris Duke Theatre, 900 S. Beretania St., Honolulu. Cost is $30 for non-members, $25 for Academy of Arts members. Call (808) 532-8700.