Toshiyuki Miyama and The New Herd

Toshiyuki Miyama was born in Chiba in 1921, joined the Japanese Naval Military Band in 1939 and served aboard warships through the war, and emerged from it with a clarinet practice and a sense of what a large ensemble could do that most of his contemporaries lacked. After the war he joined the Lucky Puppy Orchestra, led his own group from 1950 as the Jive Ace, expanded to full big-band size and renamed the ensemble the New Herd in 1958. The New Herd was not a repertoire band playing American standards in the manner of post-war Japanese dance orchestras: from the late 1960s onward, with principal arranger Kozaburo Yamaki providing the compositional framework, the band moved steadily toward original, adventurous material that placed Japanese big-band jazz in genuine conversation with the American avant-garde. “Perspective” (1969) is cited by collectors as the record that announced this direction. The collaboration with pianist and avant-garde composer Masahiko Sato that produced “Canto of Libra” (1970) and “Yamataifu” (1972) pushed the ensemble into territory that won Japan’s prestigious Geijutsusai Yushu Prize. The New Herd recorded with Charles Mingus in 1971, toured worldwide through the 1970s and 1980s, and provided a working home for multiple generations of Japanese jazz musicians, including saxophonists Jiro Inagaki and Hidefumi Toki at different points in their careers. “Tsuchi No Ne (Sound of The Earth)” (1973) is among the most collected entries in the Three Blind Mice catalogue. Miyama led the ensemble for more than fifty years and died on May 24, 2016, aged 94. The New Herd continues to perform.

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