Hideo Shiraki was a Japanese drummer who led a hard-bop quintet in Tokyo in the late 1950s and 1960s. Given Blue Note's strong distribution in Japan, Shiraki's group was widely popular there but not very well known here. In Sept. 1962, Shiraki recorded Hideo Shiraki Plays Horace Silver. The band, billed as the Hideo Quintet Plus One, featured Naoya Omata (tp), Akira Fukuhara (vtb), Hidehiko “Sleepy" Matsumoto (ts,fl), Yuzuru Sera (p), Hachiro Kurita (b) and Hideo Shiraki (d). The arrangements were by Matsumoto.
Three months after the recording session, Silver was touring in Japan with his own quintet along with singer Chris Connor and her trio. All were treated regally, according to Silver in Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty, his 2007 autobiography. Silver met Shiraki on the tour and after hearing the group play, he pronounced him Japan's Art Blakey. The cover of Shiraki's album featured the drummer in a phone booth with Silver in the next booth. The image was likely taken during Shiraki's visit to New York in 1963.
Why bother to listen to this album when you can hear Silver's original versions? Because Shiraki brings a different kind of interpretive energy and excitement to the material. His drumming is driving and engaging while the group plays with stinging heat
Shiraki died in 1972 at age 31. I was unable to find out the cause or why he died so young.
JazzWax tracks: Hideo Shiraki Plays Horace Silver (King) can be found for around $12 at Amazon by looking at the alternate sellers here. While you're at it, also grab Hideo Shiraki Plays Bossa Nova (1962), here.
JazzWax clip: Here's Silver's Swinging the Samba...
Here's Hidehiko Matsumoto's Deux Step from Hideo Shiraki Plays Bossa Nova...
Three months after the recording session, Silver was touring in Japan with his own quintet along with singer Chris Connor and her trio. All were treated regally, according to Silver in Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty, his 2007 autobiography. Silver met Shiraki on the tour and after hearing the group play, he pronounced him Japan's Art Blakey. The cover of Shiraki's album featured the drummer in a phone booth with Silver in the next booth. The image was likely taken during Shiraki's visit to New York in 1963.
Why bother to listen to this album when you can hear Silver's original versions? Because Shiraki brings a different kind of interpretive energy and excitement to the material. His drumming is driving and engaging while the group plays with stinging heat
Shiraki died in 1972 at age 31. I was unable to find out the cause or why he died so young.
JazzWax tracks: Hideo Shiraki Plays Horace Silver (King) can be found for around $12 at Amazon by looking at the alternate sellers here. While you're at it, also grab Hideo Shiraki Plays Bossa Nova (1962), here.
JazzWax clip: Here's Silver's Swinging the Samba...
Here's Hidehiko Matsumoto's Deux Step from Hideo Shiraki Plays Bossa Nova...
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This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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