was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

player and band leader nicknamed the "Benny Goodman of Japan".

Life

Shoji Suzuki was born in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

City,

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

. His father Saburo was a

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

player who performed in an orchestra that accompanied silent films. His elder brother Toshio was a

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

player, and his younger brothers both Koich and Masao were clarinet and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

players. Shoji Suzuki started his professional musician life as an alto saxophone player for a cabaret in 1947. Then he was also a member of Toriro Miki's Band formed by Toriro Miki. He entered Azumanians that was a jazz clarinet player Matsujiro Azuma's band in 1949, he came under the influence of Matsujiro Azuma and became a jazz clarinet player. He entered Hachiro Matsui And Tokyo Jive in 1950. After he played and learned

dixieland jazz Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...

Fumio Nanri was a Japanese jazz trumpeter nicknamed the "Satchmo of Japan" by Louis Armstrong. He was one of Japan's first jazz musicians to become known outside his native country. A long-standing prestigious music award, "The Fumio Nanri Award", was named a ...

And His Hot Peppers, he entered

Misao Ikeda Misao (written: 操 or みさを in hiragana) is a unisex Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese philosophy student and poet *, Japanese textile artist, weaver and educator *, Japanese murderer *, Japanese biathle ...

's Rhythm Kings. He formed his band Rhythm Aces with a

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

player Saburo Nambe, a piano player

Yoshitaka Akimitsu Yoshitaka is a masculine Japanese given name and a Japanese surname. Possible writings Yoshitaka can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義孝, "justice, filial piety" *義隆, "justice, no ...

, a

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

player Isamu Harada and so on in 1953.

Shoji Suzuki And Rhythm Aces activity

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

's Band came to Tokyo Japan in January 1951, Benny Goodman and

Peanuts Hucko Michael Andrew "Peanuts" Hucko (April 7, 1918 – June 19, 2003) was an American big band musician. His primary instrument was the clarinet, but he sometimes played saxophone. Early life and education He was born in Syracuse, New York, United St ...

, the lead alto saxophone player of Benny Goodman's Band, listened to Shoji Suzuki And Rhythm Aces playing in a club in

Ginza Ginza ( ; ja, 銀座 ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo, with numerous intern ...

, Tokyo. Benny Goodman acclaimed that he was an excellent star with a personality of his own. Peanuts Hucko favored "Suzukake No Michi" that Shoji Suzuki And Rhythm Aces was playing, Peanuts Hucko as a clarinet player attended Shoji Suzuki And Rhythm Aces recording and recorded "Suzukake No Michi" (, means "Platanus Road") at the Radio Tokyo Hall in

Yūrakuchō is a business district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, situated in between the Ginza and Hibiya Park, southeast of the Tokyo Imperial Palace. The district takes its name from Oda Nagamasu (1547–1622), who was also known as Yūraku (有楽). Oda Nagam ...

, Tokyo, on January 17, 1951. This recording broke the record of jazz record sales in Japan. By this opportunity, Shoji Suzuki And Rhythm Aces increased in further popularity, they played at

Eddie Condon Albert Edwin Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973) was an American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in Chicago jazz, he also played piano and sang. Early years Condon was born in Goodland, Indiana, the son of J ...

's Club in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

during three weeks in 1966 and realized to hold a concert at the

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

in 1982. Shoji Suzuki died on September 10, 1995, in Japan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suzuki, Shoji Swing clarinetists Japanese jazz bandleaders 1932 births 1995 deaths Japanese jazz musicians People from Yokohama 20th-century Japanese musicians