Nippon Swing Time Again ②
Tracing History
As a convention of an anthology, it is necessary to roughly trace the history.
In the case of Victor, there is a general path starting from the Japan Victor Jazz Band, Kaai Jazz Band, and Rakansan Jazz Band at the time of the company's founding, to the visiting Wayne Coleman Jazz Band, Al Uls and his Florida Collegians, and then the Japan Victor Orchestra and the Japan Victor Jazz Orchestra (also known as the Japan Victor Salon Orchestra) which were formed in-house by Victor.
I followed that path again this time, but I was able to include bands that were omitted in vol. 1.
These are the band led by Jiyu Kikuchi at the Ballroom Florida and the Japan Victor Salon Orchestra mentioned later.
Regarding Jiyu Kikuchi, the scrapbook formerly owned by Jiyu Kikuchi, which I was shown by Mr. Masahisa Segawa in his final years, was very helpful.
This scrapbook is currently donated to the Waseda University Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, but before that, I carefully photographed it myself and have been using it for research on pre-war jazz.
The performances Jiyu Kikuchi left at Japan Victor are, albeit with conditions, undoubtedly records of Japan's highest-level jazz bands, and they were one of the things I definitely wanted to include this time.
The Order of Song Selection
I decide on the singers and takes for each band.
Yes, the song selection for "Nippon Swing Time" prioritizes the bands and arrangers, with singers coming second. For vol. 2, I decided on the opening track and the allocation for the Japan Victor Jazz Orchestra (Japan Victor Salon Orchestra) before choosing everything else. It was also fun work to rack my brain over how to organize DISC-1 and DISC-2 respectively, and how to connect 1 to 2. Since I am doing what I dreamed of doing someday after being exposed to Mr. Masahisa Segawa's supervision work when I was young, it is natural that it is fun.
About the Arrangers.
In vol. 1, I covered Ichiro Ida, Kunihiko Hashimoto, Sadamu Uesugi, Mataji Taniguchi, Haruhiko Haida, Seiichi Suzuki, and Osuke Ito in a broad manner.
In vol. 2, I focused specifically on the excellent arrangements of Haruhiko Haida, Osuke Ito, Shigeo Taira, and Suki Sano.
They are the arrangers who defined Victor's swing feeling.
Haruhiko Haida was the older brother of Katsuhiko Haida and was active as a central figure in the Hawaiian Moana Glee Club.
He was originally a Hawaiian music person, but as an arranger, he also left behind many famous arrangements with unique ideas and a sharp feeling.
In this vol. 2, glimpses of that can be seen in "Hama no Koikaze," "San Francisco," "Omoide no Yokogao," and "Omoide no Moana."
In particular, "Omoide no Moana," which decorates the end of DISC-2, is a take that truly deserves the name of hidden jazz.