From music.163 |
Being only a couple of months away from his 64th birthday in December, let me wish Nobuyuki Shimizu a very early Happy Birthday. My, he really cut a dapper figure on the cover of his sophomore solo album "Anything Goes" in 1982. It's been a long while since I posted a Creator article on the blog, and as I noted in Yasuhiro Abe's(安部恭弘)"Kanojo ni Dry na Martini wo"(彼女にドライなマティーニを)last Friday, I figured that Shimizu needed to get his due here soon.
The Tokyo-born Shimizu has had plenty of mentions on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" over the years. It's no surprise since he's not only a musician on the keyboards (main), guitar, bass and drums, having begun in the 1970s, but he has been a composer and an arranger since the 1980s. His connections with other figures in the Japanese music industry began very early in his life with one of his classmates in piano lessons being future fellow musician and songwriter Yuuji Toriyama(鳥山雄司). Additionally, during his time at Tokyo Metropolitan Matsubara High School, he created a band with his kohai EPO, Yoshiyuki Sahashi(佐橋佳幸)and others after which he became a student of the late Latin jazz pianist Naoya Matsuoka(松岡直也).
From my view, Shimizu has been one of the most prolific songwriters and arrangers in Japanese pop music, so I realized that I need to divvy up this tribute to him in two parts. The first half will go into his early days as a band man and then arranger entering the 1980s.
(1979) Kinokuniya Band -- 4AM
When I first wrote about Kinokuniya Band(紀ノ国屋バンド)in 2018, it was for this jazzy cover of Taeko Ohnuki's(大貫妙子)"4AM" on their one-and-only album "Street Sensation" (1979). What I hadn't realized until later was that a 17-year-old Shimizu was a part of the band when they started up in 1976. Afterwards, he would also act as a support musician for Tatsuro Yamashita(山下達郎), Ohnuki and Mariya Takeuchi(竹内まりや)and become a general session musician.
(1980) Sayonara Mata Itsuka(さよならまたいつか)
Shimizu may be primarily known as someone who supports other singers but he has put out his own discography beginning with his 1980 "Corner Top" album. From that one is the romantic and urbane "Sayonara Mata Itsuka". Enjoy the sunset! 🌇
(1981) MASH -- LOVE
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to provide any comments (pro or con). Just be civil about it.