Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band -- Kogun（孤軍）

 

When I saw jazz pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi's（秋吉敏子）name appear on NHK's 9 pm evening broadcast this morning, I assumed the worst considering the number of musicians that have passed away even in the first few months of 2023 and frankly the lady is 93 years old. However, I was happy to find out that the feature on Akiyoshi was a piece on her longevity and her jazz prowess. Whew!

However, I did have one beef about the five-minute piece on Akiyoshi. The pianist has been married to tenor saxophonist and flutist Lew Tabackin since 1969 and together they formed the Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band in 1973 covering Big Band and BeBop. Tabackin himself was shown wielding his instruments during some of the performance coverage on NHK. And yet, in their home, Tabackin was merely introduced via graphics as "Husband: Lew" and the short snippet of conversation merely had Tabackin answer his wife's query on what he was going to have for dinner (pork). Yeah, I know the focus was on Akiyoshi, but still...

One of the songs by Akiyoshi that was played during the report at a recent concert at Lincoln Center in New York City last month was "Kogun" (Forlorn Force) which apparently was based upon those Japanese soldiers who had been so deep in their lives in the jungle that they never found out about the end of World War II and just kept on maintaining their posts for decades. What the report didn't say was that "Kogun" had been the title track of the first album by Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band, released in August 1974.

Listening to "Kogun" (which lasts for a little over 8 minutes) a few times already, it seems to melodically describe the old forgotten soldier waking up to his usual day but then somehow getting discovered by society and thrown pell-mell into the world of the 1970s. To match the fear and bewilderment of the soldier, I would have thought the jazz to be have been more free and cacophonous but the tight swing in the arrangements had me thinking that he was probably OK surrounded by a group of supporters to help guide him back into civilization. In the last quarter of the song, I'm assuming that it's Tabackin on the flute illustrating the soldier's processing of what he's seen, heard, felt and smelled of late 20th-century society before there's a melding of the intro's traditional and the jazz.

The Randy Van Horne Singers -- Meet the Flintstones

 

Before "The Simpsons", there were "The Flintstones", that modern Stone Age family. It was a daily ritual for me and my brother as kids to watch the antics of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble as they got through the daily grind in Bedrock while sometimes taking on side gigs which would usually end badly in front of their long-suffering spouses, Wilma and Betty respectively. Fred and Barney's favourite pastime of bowling wasn't lost on me since my father was also a fan of hitting the pins.

I always got a kick out of the snarky comments out of the animals that were used as appliances. Hanna & Barbera wouldn't get anywhere near the toilet though.

Of course, the other running gag on "The Flintstones" was how they brought on the celebrities and named them in their own hilarious way. The first time that I got to actually see Ann-Margret was through her appearance on the show as Ann-Margrock. And there were Stony Curtis and Cary Granite. If I had got onto the program, maybe my name would have ended up as J-Canucklestone.

A good chunk of my childhood was spent watching "The Flintstones" and I had assumed that I pretty much knew everything there was to learn about this program. But I was wrong. It was only in the last decade that I discovered "The Flintstones" had been the first animated program to get a prime-time slot on ABC; that's quite something considering that I had only seen Fred and Barney as afternoon cartoon characters.

On top of that, I only found out in the last few months that there had been a very different opening and closing sequence and a different theme song for "The Flintstones" in the first two seasons of its 1960-1966 run. The theme song used for both the opening and the ending was "Rise and Shine", a jazzy and upbeat instrumental by Hoyt Curtin. It was actually a song that I had heard as background music in the episodes but I never knew that it was the first theme. I also have to give thanks to YouTube and the uploader Steven Brandt for showing me the opening and ending credits for the very first time in my life.

Ah, as of Season 3, this was the opening credit sequence that greeted me after getting home from school or finishing off lunch. It was the swing jazz orchestra by Curtin and the Randy Van Horne Singers behind one of Western animation's most famous theme songs "Meet the Flintstones" right when Fred happily screams "Yabba-dabba-doo!" when work is done and it's time to head home. 

Although "Meet the Flintstones" wouldn't become the official theme until late 1962, Wikipedia has reported that its composition by Curtin along with Hanna & Barbera had taken place in 1961 so for this ROY, I'm gonna go with that latter year and find out what were the big hits in Japan during that time.

Kyu Sakamoto -- Ue wo Muite Arukou (上を向いて歩こう)

Mari Watanabe -- Tokyo Dodonpa Musume （東京ドドンパ娘）

Sachiko Nishida -- Coffee Rumba （コーヒー・ルンバ）

Naoki Sanada -- Yoe Nee yo!（酔えねぇよ！）

 

I believe that it's every singer's dream to come up with a distinct personality or style for oneself. Perhaps I'm watching one example of this right here. Over the past few years, I've noted the enka singer, young Naoki Sanada（真田ナオキ）, who's learned his craft under singer-songwriter Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）, carving out this niche of a stylish man-about-city with oodles of growly verve and passion. His song titles have involved the general imbibing of mass quantities along with certain metropolitan areas.

Well, his latest single which came out on April 19th is "Yoe Nee yo!" (Ain't Getting Drunk!). Once again, his mentor Yoshi was behind words and music and if I've got my understanding in check, it's about a guy trying to get through a rough patch while ensconced in his bottle with the love of a good woman, although it's up in the air whether he'll succeed. Yelling out the title in his vocals, he only promises that he won't get drunk today.

Sanada seems like a chip off the old block with that low and raspy delivery and emotional rough-hewn oomph that Yoshi has used in his own songs like his trademark "Yukiguni"（雪国）. Melodically, I've categorized the other songs by Sanada as either Mood Kayo or enka, but "Yoe Nee yo!" is especially difficult because it has elements of different genres: the garrulous brio of enka and maybe even rock but with those punchy horns which takes things into a more soulful direction. Could this be what Neo-Mood Kayo sounds like or is it more along the lines of the New Adult Music blend of enka and rock that I mentioned in Sanada's "Yoi no Blues"（酔いのブルース）?

Whatever the case may be, I think Sanada's persona in his videos is the type of guy you'd want to take you on a barhopping tour in Tokyo...provided that he picks up the tab.🍷

yonawo -- Milk Choco（ミルクチョコ）

 

The above photo is of a Double Chocolate cake that I purchased for the family at a nearby bakery. Indeed, it did live up to its name. Perhaps it was just a tad too rich for some of my clan because since then, I've been getting the just-as-popular Carrot Cake there. However, I will always have a sweet tooth for chocolate.

Speaking of chocolate, I did find this song "Milk Choco" (Milk Chocolate) by the pop-rock band yonawo. In fact, this was the November 2019 debut single for the group which hails from Fukuoka Prefecture. There is that initial indies rock buzz in vocalist/songwriter Shota Aratani's（荒谷翔大）delivery but the song takes on a most congenial and spacy jazzy feel to accompany the lyrics of a modern-day Alice falling into a Wonderland after nibbling a bit on that titular milk chocolate. In a way, there is a similar feeling to some of Ego-Wrappin's more esoteric creations although the band has been put alongside groups such as Suchmos and Yogee New Waves.

yonawo consists of Aratani, guitarist Yuya Saito（斉藤雄哉）, bassist Satoshi Tanaka（田中慧）and drummer Takafumi Nomoto（野元喬文）. Aratani and Saito both were in their junior high school soccer club and one day, Saito popped over to Aratani's house and ended up getting into his world of music with Saito learning how to play the guitar from his buddy. Aratani's parents were both musicians and Aratani himself could also handle the piano and has been a Beatles fan since elementary school. Although the two of them ended up in different high schools, Saito became friends with Tanaka and Nomoto and later introduced them to Aratani. 

Soon after graduating high school in 2016, Aratani headed off to Vancouver on a working-holiday visa but still remain connected through SNS communications, and soon after he had come back to Japan, the four decided to start up yonawo in 2017. As for the band's name, a mutual friend for all of them, Yonao（ヨナオ）, told them about legendary band Happy End's "Kaze wo Atsumete"（風をあつめて）. Aratani, who had been writing lyrics in English up until then, listened to the song and concluded that Japanese lyrics weren't bad either. I would gather that in tribute to their good buddy, the band adopted his name.

Commuting to Work with City Pop (and more)

It’s Oliver Ebisuno, coming back to Kayo Kyoku Plus after a long break. For some time now, in spite of work and personal stuff, I wanted to make an update on the blog, but always felt either unmotivated or drained from strength when sitting in front of an open draft editor. I think the time is right for a special post; to be specific, an Author’s Pick text. Shamelessly, I admit that J-Canuck’s Driving to City Pop two-parter provided me with much needed dosage of inspiration.

Evidently, I do not live in Japan and there are no prospects of me visiting the country in the nearest future, but I thought it would be fun to mix my love for Japanese music with my personal experience, that is, commuting to work.

The city I live in is such a hole in the middle of nowhere (and forgotten by the Almighty) that basically right after finishing high school I had to get used to commuting. I had to undergo a one-hour trip by bus while studying for 5 years, the same applied to PhD studies, and my first employment. Last year, I switched jobs and now I also commute by bus, but this time to a different city, which is located roughly an hour away from my place of residence.

Being on the bus for two hours per day (please bear in mind that this is a “there and back again” route) gives me a lot of time to do various sorts of stuff like reading, browning the web, but also listening. For years, I was never that keen on the idea of listening to music outside of the comfort zone of my home, but I warmed up to the idea after the pandemic.

Now, en route to work (and most importantly coming back from it) I can’t help but listen to Tomoko Aran. Her albums Fuyuu Kuukan and Last Good-bye really calm me down and put me in a positive mood, especially in the morning. The same also goes for Toshiki Kadomatsu’s After 5 Clash and Hitomitoi’s City Dive albums.

When I am in a more adventurous mood, then I reach for music that is more charged with Synth-Pop or Rock. In such instances, Yoko Oginome’s Route 246 Connexion and Chisato Moritaka’s Mi-ha prove to be invaluable. Very rarely, when I feel deeply melancholic, I decide to desperately turn to Wink’s Best of selection or Naomi Akimoto’s Poison 21. Please refer to the selection of my favourite songs from the aforementioned albums here:

 1. Tomoko Aran -- Midnight Pretenders (1983)

 

2. Tomoko Aran -- Last Good-bye (1986)

 

3. Toshiki Kadomatsu -- Step into the Light (1984)

4. Hitomitoi -- Dive (2012)

5. Yoko Oginome -- 246 Planet Girls (1987)

6. Chisato Moritaka -- 47 Hard Nights (1988)

7. Naomi Akimoto -- Lion in My Pocket (1984)

8. Wink -- One Night in Heaven (1989)

That’s it for the moment, I sincerely hope that you enjoyed my list of suggestions. I should also add that apart from the aforemtioned songs/albums, I also tend to listen to either Pet Shop Boys or Animotion while commuting. Thank you for reading.

Image sources: The feature photograph at the top of the post was taken by me on a bus to work on wintery night at 5 AM. I usually sit at the back, so it was easier for me to make sure that the faces of other commuters won’t get caught by the phone camera. The image of Akina Nakamori next to Mercedes was found on Pinterest. All the hyperlinks lead to previous Kayo Kyoku Plus posts.

Junko Ohashi & Minoya Central Station -- Love Machine（ラブ・マシーン）

 

Well, I noticed on Twitter that Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）is celebrating a birthday right now in Japan so I would like to wish her all the best on the special day.

So, it may be a bit early for the City Pop this week but in tribute to Ohashi who's given so much to the umbrella genre, I would like to feature "Love Machine" which was officially recorded by Ohashi and her backing band Minoya Central Station（美乃家セントラル・ステイション）. This was actually the B-side to the singer's August 1978 hit single "Tasogare My Love" (たそがれマイ・ラブ）, a song that was more in line with straight pop or kayo kyoku.

"Love Machine", which has nothing to do with Hello Project's premier group Morning Musume's（モーニング娘。）really big hit "Love Machine"（LOVEマシーン）from 1999, is wonderful City Pop of the decade which was written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Ohashi's husband, Ken Sato（佐藤健）. Like a number of other urban contemporary tunes in Japan, this sounds as if it were meant for the car stereo as the vehicle smoothly makes its way through Tokyo on the various highways. In any case, once again, a Happy Birthday to Junko!🎂

Taeko Ohnuki -- Haru no Tegami（春の手紙）

 

The weather has become a bit more seasonal now. It's nothing like those prematurely summery days that we had a couple of weeks ago, but thankfully, we're no longer getting frozen into icy stalagmites on the pavement anymore. We're basically hovering at around 10-12 degrees as a high temperature these days.

I heard this song on Weathernews Japan's new music segment a few days ago, and even before seeing the singer's name and song title in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, I could identify Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）voice right then and there. The very calming and seasonal "Haru no Tegami" (Spring Letter) was a delight to listen to. 

With a bit of country twang in there, "Haru no Tegami" was Ohnuki's 19th single from February 1993 which was written and composed by the singer and arranged by Takeshi Kobayashi（小林武史）. Reaching No. 40 on Oricon, "Haru no Tegami" was also a track on her 15th studio album "Shooting star in the blue sky" which came out later in September that year. The song was used as the theme for a 1993 TBS drama titled "Kasai no Hito"（家栽の人...Family Court Judge） based on the 1988-1996 manga by Jinpachi Mouri（毛利甚八）and Osamu Uoto（魚戸おさむ）.