Hideo Shiraki Plays Silver

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com - December 23, 2015

Hideo Shiraki was a Japanese drummer who led a superb 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 sadly 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 later, Horace Silver happened to be 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. During the tour, Silver met Shiraki, and after hearing the group play, Silver was overjoyed and pronounced Shiraki Japan's Art Blakey. The cover of Shiraki's album, featuring the drummer in one phone booth and Silver in another, was taken during Shiraki's visit to New York in 1963 prior to the abum's release.

Why bother listening 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 gusto and stinging heat.

Shiraki died in 1972 at age 31. Unfortunately, I was unable to find out the cause or why he died so young. Perhaps one of JazzWax's Japanese readers can shed light.

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, grab Hideo Shiraki Plays Bossa Nova (1962), here. It's equally terrific.

JazzWax clip: Here's Shiraki's version of Silver's Swinging the Samba...

Here's Hidehiko Matsumoto's Deux Step from Hideo Shiraki Plays Bossa Nova...

Used with permission by Marc Myers