A figure of the contemporary improvised scene, Makoto Sato (born 1946 in Niigata, Japan) is a Japanese drummer based in Paris. In 1970, he came to Paris for the first time and had the chance to attend concerts by exceptional musicians such as Sunny Murray, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Alan Silva or Marion Brown. These experiences reveal to him the multiple possibilities of improvisation. Later he met Don Cherry, Itaru Oki and Masahiko Togashi, and these encounters encouraged him to embark on the musical experiment himself. He starts playing drums. In 1992, with Jean-François Pauvros, guitarist and Jean-Marc Foussat, electroacoustic musician, he created the group Marteau Rouge. Makoto Sato plays with Joe McPhee, Alan Silva, Itaru Oki, Raymond Boni, Daunik Lazro, Stéphane Payen, Michael Marcus, Ted Daniel, Lucien Johnson, Rasul Siddik, Tollem McDonas, Eric Zinman, Benjamin Duboc, Geza Tomka... He also works with dancers such as Masaki Iwana, Gyohei Zaitsu or Maki Watanabe.