Toshiyuki Miyama & The New Herd - The Way We Were (Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo) Very Good Plus (VG+) / Very Good (VG)

Notes

Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd is obviously one of the most adventurous of contemporary big bands. Miyama organized his first band in 1950, and since has always tried to adopt the mainstream of modern jazz development into his band's style and performance. Miyama brought his Herd to the United States twice, in 1975 and 1976, to play at the Monterey and Newport jazz Festivals. They received great applause from American critics and the public alike. The New Herd's superb arrangements are written mainly by Kozaburo Yamaki, the band's guitarist and Miyama's long-time sidekick. Yamaki is known for his rare ability to infuse elements of Japanese musical tradition into the latest jazz writing to produce truly original works with a New Herd flavor. For this new album, Yamaki chose ten of the most popular hits from the 1920s through 1960s, and arranged them in his imaginative way. You'll be pleased to find old standards, such as "Star Dust" and "Night and Day", which now sound exactly like contemporary hits. Yet there are also lots of superb jazz solos played by Mori (ts) Kataoka (tb), Kishi (tp) and many others in the band. This is a New Herd version of "Old Bottle, New Wine". --- Masahisa Segawa ---