George Kawaguchi
George Kawaguchi ( Japanese ジ ョ ー ジ 川口 , Jōji Kawaguchi , actually: Jōji Kawaguchi ( 川口 譲 二 , Kawaguchi Jōji ), born June 15, 1927 in Fukakusa, Fushimi-ku , Kyōto ; † November 1, 2003 ) was a Japanese jazz musician ( drums ) and band leader .
Live and act
Kawaguchi, who initially grew up in Manchukuo , became active in the local jazz scene after returning to Japan after the end of the war. He had been a professional musician since the late 1940s and was regularly voted the best drummer in the country by the Swing Journal between 1951 and 1956 , making him a member of the all-star formations of the Japanese jazz magazine. From the end of this decade he led his own formations, initially George Kawaguchi's The Big 4 (based on the model of Charlie Ventura 's Big Four ), which also included saxophonists Hidehiko Matsumoto and Sadao Watanabe . In the mid-1950s, the Big Four were among the most successful jazz bands in Japan; one of the band's most popular tracks was "Drum Boogie". In 1964 he performed in Tokyo with Ella Fitzgerald . In 1970 there was a studio appointment with the drummer Akira Ishikawa ; An album was created in 1981 with Art Blakey , the following year with Lionel Hampton . In 1987 he recorded an album with compositions by Herbie Hancock . In 1990 he put together an all-star formation with the American musicians Freddie Hubbard , Salena Jones , Sonny Fortune , Bill Pierce , Benny Green , Rufus Reid , Elvin Jones , George Duke , Ron Carter and Carl Allen ; the album Jazz Battle for Disc Union was created. In the 1990s and 2000s, he also worked with Martha Miyake and Toshiko Akiyoshi . In the field of jazz, he was involved in 27 recording sessions between 1951 and 2001.
Discographic notes
- Jazz at the Torys: The Big Four (King, 1957)
- The Original Big Four (King, 1959)
- George Kawaguchi and The Big 4 ( Three Blind Mice , 1976)
- George Kawaguchi & The Super Band (Paddle Wheel, 1979)
- George Kawaguchi & Art Blakey: Killer Joe (Union Jazz, 1982), with Charles Fambrough , Donald Browne , Branford Marsalis , Slide Hampton , Wallace Roney
- Lionel Hampton Swings With George Kawaguchi (Paddle Wheel, 1982), with Arnett Cobb , Kenny Barron , Milt Hinton
- George Kawaguchi & The Super Band: Super Drums 2: A Tribute to Gene Krupa (Paddle Wheel, 1983)
- George Kawaguchi Plays Herbie Hancock (Paddle Wheel (NY 1st Call Series), 1987), with Donald Harrison , Takashi Mizuhashi , Cyrus Chestnut , Hideo Ichikawa , Terence Blanchard
Web links
- George Kawaguchi at Allmusic (English)
- George Kawaguchi at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ The Oxford Companion to Jazz , edited by Bill Kirchner . 2005, p. 569
- ↑ The Culture of Japan as Seen Through Its Leisure , edited by Sepp Linhart and Sabine Breakfast. 1998, p. 305
- ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed April 17, 2017)
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Kawaguchi, George |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | ジ ョ ー ジ 川口 (Japanese, stage name); Kawaguchi, Jōji (real name); 川口 譲 二 (Japanese, real name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese jazz musician |
DATE OF BIRTH | June 15, 1927 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Fukakusa, Fushimi-ku , Kyoto , Japan |
DATE OF DEATH | November 1, 2003 |