Jacks (band)

The Jacks were a 1960s Japanese psychedelic rock group who released their most well known studio album Vacant World (or 'No Sekai' in Japanese) in 1968. The Jacks, originally known as Nightingale, began their career as a folk trio in 1966. After jazz drummer Takasuke Kida entered the group, the band headed into a new musical direction. Though internationally obscure, the group was successful in Japan. Vacant World is widely seen as one of the most important Japanese rock albums of the era. Their song 'Vacant World' (or 'Karappo no Sekai' in Japanese) was famously banned from Japanese airwaves due to lyrical content. Though the Jacks' musical legacy has carried on in Japan, their career was quite short, disbanding shortly after the release of their second studio album Super Session (or 'No Kiseki' in Japanese).

Discography

Vacant World [No Sekai] (Toshiba Express, 1968)
Super Session [No Kiseki](Toshiba, 1968)
'Karappo No Sekai' b/w 'Iikodane' (0000)
Live '68 (Jasdac, 1973)
Echoes In The Radio (Compilation) (Toshiba, 1986)
Jacks' Greatest Hits (Toshiba Express)

Vacant World and Super Session are in print by Toshiba/EMI Japan.

Musical Style

The Jacks played in a distinct musical style fused with ambient psychedelic, surf, folk and jazz. The group had a dark, introspective sound with an exploratory, improvisational edge and sometimes headed into moody instrumental excursions. The Jacks typically employed reverb, tremolo and subtle fuzz-guitar and also utilized the xylophone, organ and wind instruments such as the flute. Lead singer Yoshio Hayakawa sung in Japanese and typically ranged from a low, calm and tranquil voice to throaty, desperate sounding wails. Similarly, the drummer would follow suit, going from subtle jazzy sounding fills to complicated, offbeat rhythms and manic cymbal crashes.

Members

Yoshio Hayakawa – vocals, rhythm guitar
Haruo Mizuhashi – lead guitar, vocals
Hitoshi Tanino – Fender bass, upright bass
Takasuke Kida – drums, flute, vibraphone

After the break up of the Jacks, singer Yoshio Hayakawa released one acclaimed solo album before retiring from music, only to reemerge again as a solo artist during the 1990s. Drummer Takasuke Kida died in a car accident in 1980.

The Jacks' name

It is apparent that the Jacks did not use 'the' to denote their group's name, however they are most commonly referred to by English speakers as 'The Jacks'. An unrelated 1940s to 1950s American musical group The Cadets (doo wop) sometimes used the pseudonym 'The Jacks' to release certain songs on their subsidiary label. Though the two respective groups were musically dissimilar, the similarity of their names, matched with their paralleled level of obscurity has lent to a considerable amount of confusion between the two, particularly in the United States.

References

External Links

Japrocksampler.com

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