Shin Kazuhara -- Bugler's Holiday

 

Last night, I was surprised and saddened to find out that trumpeter and arranger Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）had passed away several months ago in April 2021 at the age of 74. Apparently according to his J-Wiki article, his death was kept very quiet with one old friend only finding out when he checked at his house to see on how he was doing only to discover from a family associate that Kazuhara's relatives had already seen to his final affairs.

Kazuhara, who originally hailed from Okayama Prefecture, was someone that I found out about through my work on the blog when I realized how involved he was in the works of other singers as well as his own projects. He came up with "Samba de LOVES YOU" which seems to have become a favourite among high school bands, and then I ended up buying "Breath From The Season" (1988) by Tokyo Ensemble Lab, his own group which came up with a mix of jazz and fusion. He also helped out in Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）"Twilight Made...Hideki" album in 1985 with the brass section.

I just wanted to give my little tribute to Kazuhara to start off today's KKP articles via his April 1997 solo album "Trumpet Major". Indeed, I found this track "Bugler's Holiday" in which he plays all of the instruments including the piccolo trumpet, valve trombone and the French horn. It's quite the virtuoso performance of this 1954 song, originally by the master of light orchestral music, Leroy Anderson ("Sleigh Ride", "The Syncopated Clock"). And it has the personal connection with me since I used to listen to "Bugler's Holiday" all the time via a record when I spent my time in the junior high school library by the record player. Of course, the song was frequently used to accompany certain events during Sports Day festivities at schools in Japan.

It's sad to know that he has now joined many others in the hereafter but at the same time, Kazuhara has been able to leave us with a lot of his contributions via his trumpet and other instruments in many works.