George Kawaguchi

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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

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Oxford Companion to Jazz , edited by Bill Kirchner . 2005, p. 569
  2. ↑ The Culture of Japan as Seen Through Its Leisure , edited by Sepp Linhart and Sabine Breakfast. 1998, p. 305
  3. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed April 17, 2017)
personal data
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