CD1 of 5, originally released as an LP box set in 1976. In 1927, Columbia (along with Victor and Polydor) was establshed and electric recording introduced. Teiichi Futamura, a male singer from Asakusa Opera, had hits with two jazz songs, My Blue Heaven (by Walter Donaldon) and Song of Araby (Fred Fischer) in 1928. The success was mainly due to radio which had started in 1925. Dance halls were built around 1920, when American foxtrot, tango and other contemporary dances were imported, replacing European waltzes that had previously been popular. The most famous dance halls were the Florida in Tokyo and the Paulista in Osaka. This CD traces the beginnings of the jazz in Japan.

1.Teiichi Futamura, Kikuyo Amano + Red Brew Club Orchestra / My Blue Heaven 2. Teiichi Futamura, Kikuyo Amano + Red Brew Club Orchestra / Sing Me A Song Of Arabia 3. Teiichi Futamura, Kikuyo Amano + Red Brew Club Orchestra / Adios 4. Shinichi Miwa + Cosmopolitan Novelty Orchestra / Valencia 5. Shinichi Miwa + Cosmopolitan Novelty Orchestra / Titina 6. Goro Fukazawa + Cosmopolitan Novelty Orchestra / Who 7. Kikuyo Amano, Kozaburo Yuyama + Tokyo United Jazz Band / Tell Me 8. Kikuyo Amano, Teiichi Yanagida + Kaai Jazz Band / Salome 9. Kikuyo Amano, Teiichi Yanagida + Kaai Jazz Band / I'm wingring Home 10. Kikuyo Amano + Columbia Jazz Bamd / Get Out And Get Under The Moon 11. Kikuyo Amano + Columbia Jazz Bamd / Ten little Miles From The Town 12. Kikuyo Amano + Columbia Jazz Bamd / Red Lips Kiss My Blues Away 13. Kikuyo Amano, Shinichi Miwa + Zenichiro Ishii Conducts Cosmopolitan Novelty Orchestra 14. Tomoko Sawa, Ren Tokuyama + Columbia Orchestra / The Broadway Melody 15. Kikuko Inoue + Principle Jazz Band / Among My Souvenirs 16. Barton Clane + Columbia Orchestra / Sake ga Nomitai 17. Barton Clane + Columbia Orchestra / Show Me The Way To Go Home 18. Barton Clane + Columbia Orchestra / Hallelujah

Some of the most famous singers at the dance halls were nisei (Japanese second generation) singers. The most famous singer of all was Fumiko Kawabata. 1-8, 10-15. Fumiko Kawabata + Columbia Jazz Bamd, 9. Fumiko Kawabata + Barton Clane Columbia Jazz Bamd 16. Fumiko Kawabata + Florida Argentine Tango Band

1. Lover Come Back To Me 2. The Lonesome Road 3. Ukulele Baby 4. Please 5. Let Me Call You Sweatheart 6. Sweet Jennie Lee 7. Shine on, Hervest moon 8. In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town 9. Side By Side 10. Fallin' Love Agaon 11. Song of Hawaii 12. The Side Walks of New York 13. Lady of Spain 14. The Peanuts Vendor 15. Siboney 16. La Violettaxs

Price:   £18.99

Excellent overview of the top singers of pre-war jazz in Japan.

1. Mitch Williams + Columbia Jazz Band / Lazy Bones 2. Mitch Williams + Columbia Jazz Band / Dinah 3. Mitch Williams + Columbia Jazz Band / St. Louis Blues 4. Harumi Miyagawa + Columbia Jazz Band / Somewhere In The Blue Ridge Mountain 5. Harumi Miyagawa + Columbia Jazz Band / Sing Sing 6. Harumi Miyagawa + Columbia Jazz Band / Blue Prelude 7. Betty Inada Columbia Jazz Band / Should I 8. + Columbia Jazz Band / Take Me Back To My Boots And Saddle 9. Ricky Miyagawa + Columbia Jazz Band / Dinah 10. Ricky Miyagawa + Columbia Jazz Band / Margie 11. Ricky Miyagawa + Columbia Jazz Band / Dream House 12. Tafuto Beppu + Columbia Jazz Band / St. Louis Blues 13. Akira Matsudaira + Columbia Jazz Band / Blue Moon 14. Tadaharu Nakano + Columbia Jazz Band / Side By Side 15. Hisashi Moriyama + Columbia Jazz Band / Moon Of Manakoora 16. Yaeko Okamoto + Columbia Jazz Band / Ali Baba 17. Dolly Fujioka + Columbia Jazz Band / Where The Lazy River Goes By 18. Tadaharu Nakano + Columbia Jazz Band / Some Of These Days

The 1930s were a period of prosperity for the dance halls with stage shows. Customers (mainly male) would dance after buying tickets and giving them to the club's staff female dancers. Unlike in the west, the dance halls served as a place for the entertainment of men.

1. Ryo Watanabe + Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys / Music Goes Round And Round 2. Fumio Minamisato + Takashi Sumida (guitar) / The Last Round Up 3. Fumio Minamisato + Takashi Sumida (guitar) / Serenade 4. Takashi Sumida (guitar), C. Lapham (clarinet), Tokujiro Okubo (sax) / My Blue Heaven 5. Takashi Sumida (guitar), C. Lapham (clarinet), Mitsuru Ashida (sax) / Whoopee 6. Takashi Sumida (guitar) + Hitoshi Ueda (piano) / Itching Fingers 7. Nakatsu Dance Ensemble / St Louis Blues 8. Noriko Awaya (vo), Fumio Minamisato (trumpet) + Columbia Jazz Band / Watashi no Trumpet 9. Tadaharu Nakano + Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys + Columbia Jazz Band / Tiger Rag 10. Tadaharu Nakano + Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys + Columbia Jazz Band / Bye Bye Bye 11. Tadaharu Nakano + Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys + Columbia Jazz Band / Chinatown My Chinatown 12. Tadaharu Nakano + Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys / Goodbye Blues 13. Lay E Sisters / Carioca 14. Tokiko Miura + Takarazuka Kangen Gakudan / Sing Sing Sing 15. Hisami Fujihana, Kyoko Ichijo, Masumi Harukawa + Takarazuka Kangen Gakudan / Bei Mir Bist Du Schne 16. Shizuko Kasagi + Columbia Orchestra / Sentimental Dinah 17. Zatsuon Brothers / Dinah I'm Popye, The Sailor Man, Ame no Blues, St. Louis Blues, Tabi no Yokaze, Tiger Rag


Price:   £18.99

The hits of Ryoichi Hattori and early Japanese exotica with a Japanese/Hawaiian band.

1. Noriko Awaya + Columbia Nakano Rhythm Sisters + Columbia Jazz Band / Oshare Musume 2. Tadaharu Nakano + Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys + Columbia Jazz Band / Tokyo Kenbutsu 3. Columbia Nakano Rhythm Sisters + Columbia Jazz Band / Ahodara Shinkyo 4. Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys + Columbia Jazz Band / Jazz Rokyoku 5. Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys + Columbia Orchestra / Yamadera no Osho-san 6. Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys + Columbia Orchestra / Oedo Nihonbashi 7. Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys + Columbia Orchestra / Kappore 8. Michio Shimura + Columbia Rhythm Sisters / Toh-ryan-se 9. Koji Shiba + Kalua Kamaainas / Kagerou Moete 10. Koji Shiba + Kalua Kamaainas / Kaoru Hanakazari 11. Koji Shiba + Nankai Gakuyu / Kimi o Yobu Lila 12. Yoshie Makihara + Nankai Gakuyu / Mikazuki no Sekai 13. Koji Shiba, Yoshie Makihara + Nankai Gakuyu / Gakuyu no Ie 14. Nicchiku Gasshodan + Nankai Gakuyu / Hakugin no Wa 15. Koji Shiba + Nankai Gakuyu / Minami no Kaze 16. Kalua Kamaainas / Neppu 17. Columbia Nakano Rhythm Sisters + Columbia Orchestra / Moshi Moshi Kame yo 18. Columbia Rhythm Sisters / Hinomaru Kazoeuta

More of the most popular nisei (second generation) singing stars of the day such as the legendary Betty Inada.

1. Betty Inada + Columbia Jazz Band / Happy Days Are Here again 2. Betty Inada + Columbia Jazz Band / La Cucaracha 3. Betty Inada + Columbia Jazz Band / Kimi naki Hi 4. Ricky Miyagawa + Columbia Jazz Band / I'm Following You 5. Ricky Miyagawa + Columbia Jazz Band / The Very Thought of You 6. Ricky Miyagawa + Columbia Jazz Band / When You're Smailling 7. Harumi Miyagawa + Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys / Quand Refleuriont Les Lilas Blanc 8. Harumi Miyagawa + Columbia Jazz Band / Lover Back To Me 9. Harumi Miyagawa + Columbia Jazz Band / On The Beach At Bali Bali 10. Hisashi Moriyama + Columbia Jazz Band / South American Joe 11. Hisashi Moriyama + Columbia Jazz Band / Too Good Be True 12. Yaeko Okamoto + Columbia Jazz Band / Lonsome Road (Kanashiki Michi) 13. Yaeko Okamoto + Columbia Jazz Band / Alibaba 14. Mimmy Miyajima + Columbia Orchestra / Kutsu ga Naru 15. Mimmy Miyajima + Columbia Orchestra / Ojii-san no Tokei 16. Kazuo Tanaka (guitar) Takashi Sumida (drums), Raymond Conte (clarinet) / Soshu Yakyoku 17. Columbia Orchestra / Soshu no Yoru 18. Columbia Orchestra + Shin Matsumoto (tenor sax), Kazuo Tanaka (viberaphone), Tatsuo Kato (piano) / Konsei Koete 19. Columbia Rhythm Boys + Columbia Orchestra / Aizome tsubaki 20. Columbia Rhythm Boys + Columbia Orchestra / Tarinai Song


Price:   £18.99

Takarazuka Girl Opera was a kind of musical performed by unmarried girls. Organized in 1914 by Ichiro Kobayashi is was intended as a kind of inversion of kabuki, male theatre. The name comes from Takarazuka Hot Spring, 15 miles from Osaka, where the first shows were put on as an attraction. It was on the stage of the Takarazuka Girls Opera that chansons were first sung in Japan in 1927 (Mon Paris) and 1930 (Lilas). A series of French films helped to further popularize the romantic image of downtown Paris. The Takarazuka Girls also helped to popularize tango, the boom arriving in 1937, and the arrival of a French band called Paris Moulin Rouge Tango Band who performed between 1937 and 39 in Tokyo's Florida Dance Hall.

1. Mon Paris 2. Sumire no Hanasaku Koro 3. Kimi no Otenomi 4. Valentina 5. Mont Papa 6. Sekai Manyu 7. Donna Clara 8. Futatsu no Ai no Uta 9 So wa Yume ka 10. Bouket Damur 11. Hana Shishu 12. Suzuran no Uta 13. Maine Mama 14. Marionet 15. Paris 16. Seishun no Uta 17. Ware ni Utaeyo 18. Hanazono Takarazuka 19. Kokoro no Furusato 20. Mittsu no Waltz 21. Hitokuchi-Banashi 22. Momo no Hana Sakukoro 23 Aoi Moya no Shizumeba

Takarazuka Girls Opera helped to popularize American jazz and popular songs. Before the war, jazz usually encompassed other foreign music such as tango, rumba and foxtrot.

1. Kyoiku Koshinkyoku 2. Takarazuka 3. Diga Diga Du 4. Yamabiko no Uta 5. Nosumire 6. Yamataka no Uta 7. Rainbow no Uta 8. Sing Sing Sing 9. Blue Hawaii 10. Tohki Kimi o Omou 11. Big Apple 12. Kimi wa Suteki da 13. Sakura no Genso 14. Shun Rai 15. Red Hot And Blue 16. Seishun no Suiho 17. Hold Tight 18. Penny Serenade 19. Kiiroi Basket 20. Kumoma no Tsuruhashi 21. Akai Ho no Kanue 22. Sakura 23. Sekai no Ichiba 24. Shiroi


Price:   £23.99

Hibari Misora (1937-1989) was possibly Japan's greatest ever entertainer. Best known for singing enka, she was also equally adept at other styles such as minyo (local folk) and on this album she shows yet another side to her talents. She tackles jazz standards and other classics including La Vie en Rose (made famous by Edif Piaf who Hibari is sometimes compared to), Ave Maria and Danny Boy. Some songs are sung in English although most are in Japanese. 1.Fascination 2. Stardust 3.La Vie en Rose 4.Take the A Train 5.Walkin’my Baby Back Home 6. Cry Me a River 7. Love Me or Leave Me 8.Danny Boy 9. Ave Maria 10.Core ’ngrato 11.Torna a Surriento 12.Get Out and Get Under the Moon 13.Love 14. Over the Rainbow 15.Love is a Many-Splendored Thing 16. Red Sails in the Sunset 17.Pretend

Fascinating double CD of the recordings of the Shinchu-Gun soldiers stationed in Japan 1950-53. CD1 is of American jazz and boogie woogie, great in itself, but what is really interesting is the second CD. The soldiers play either Japanese songs or those composed out of their Japan experience, most notably by a certain Johnny Watson with titles such as "Pachinko Mambo", "Ikebukuro Hustle", "Shinbashi Blues" and "Nihonbashi Bop" all areas of Tokyo given an American twist. Wonderful stuff.


Price:   £33.99

Following the war the Japanese embraced jazz with a passion. There was a no more passionate singer than Nancy Umeki who on this compilation album sings renditions of jazz standards such as 'My Foolish Heart', 'Sentimental Me' sung in English, and half a dozen Japanese songs, sung in Japanese that nevertheless keep the same mood.

Nancy (born Miyoshi) Umeki in 1929 and died in August 2007 is known in the west as an Oscar winning actress in the film Sayonara and from numerous appearances on US television where she lived from 1955. However, before that she had a succesful career in Japan as a nightclub singer, singing jazz and popular Japanese songs, performing with an American G.I. jazz band and recording for RCA Victor. This new deluxe version contains all her recorded output for Victor over 2 CDs. CD1 tracks include Sleepy My Love, Isn't it Fair, Sentimental Me, Oroka Nari Waga Kokoro, Again, Manhattan no Tsuki, Watashi wa Hitori Yuku, My Baby's Coming Home, Sayonara. CD2 tracks include I'm Waiting for You, Aru Tsuki no Yoru ni, Aishu no Ichiya, Sono Hito no Na wa Ienai, Yoru no Sasayaki, Nakitai Yona, Watashi no Symphony, Tokei no Sasayaki.


Price:   £24.99

Subtitled "The beginning of the modern jazz age 1947-1963". Jazz bands such as Victor Hot Club, Gay Qunitet, Victor Gay Bo and, Gay Septet (why gay?) perform standards from the 1950s, such as "What is This Thing Called Love" to modern jazz classics including "Moanin'""Milestones" and "Now's the Time". 21 tracks, and an interesting document of the Victor catalogue.