Celebrity File Japan by Lint


英文		重要語句
■ On October 17, 2003, the curtain was drawn on one of the greatest jazz bands ever. That night at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra called it a day. After 30 years of touring the famed leader of the group now wants to devote more time to herself and to playing the piano simply as a solo artist.		call it a day　おしまいにする famed　有名な devote　…をささげる；…を充てる
■■ Toshiko Akiyoshi is considered one of the best big band jazz arrangers in the world, but after her move to New York in 1982, she lost a lot of the popular momentum she had built up from her days in L.A. Although her accomplished tenor saxophonist/flautist husband Lew Tabackin often joined her onstage, the buzz was just not the same as those wondrous early years on the West Coast. Maybe it was just a matter of people, even in the so-called freer jazz world, unaccepting of change.		lose momentum　勢いを失う accomplished　熟練の onstage　舞台上で buzz　うわさ a matter of ...　…の問題
■■■ Change, though, has always been a part of Akiyoshi's life as she started life born into a well-off family in Japan-occupied Manchuria in 1929. Of course, once Manchuria fell during World War II, the family relocated back to Japan and that was where she fell in love with jazz, as many in her homeland did in the postwar period. By 1952, she had formed her own band. She wanted to grow as a musician, though, and felt she needed more formal training. So in 1956 she headed to Boston and the Berklee School of Music to study.		well-off　裕福な Manchuria　満州 fall in love with ...　…に夢中になる
■■■■ It was in the U.S. where she grew in musical stature. She started off as a bebop pianist in a jazz quartet and in 1959 she ended up marrying her first husband, the alto saxophonist of that quartet, Charlie Mariano with whom she had a daughter, Monday Michiru (who is also a fine soul / R&B singer).		stature　名声 bebop　バップ（モダンジャズの一形式）
■■■■■ Throughout the 1950s and early '60s she continued to play in small jazz groups but it wasn't until 1967 that she ventured out into really new and exciting musical territory. That year, she debuted as a jazz composer/conductor, following in the Duke Ellington and Count Basie big jazz band traditions.		venture out into ...　…に乗り出す
■■■■■■ By 1969, she also had a new love in her life and, after divorcing Mariano, married Lew Tabackin. Together they formed a team that has produced musical greatness as witnessed by her 14 Grammy award nominations over the years. Probably the recordings she is best known for are Long Yellow Road and Kogun, two of her most critically acclaimed and best-selling albums.		witness　…を証明する critically acclaimed　批評家に称賛された
■■■■■■■ Like any Japanese musical artist who has succeeded in the West, the albums are a blend of East and West. Akiyoshi also incorporates traditional Japanese folk-song elements and instruments such as the tsuzumi (a small Japanese drum) and koto (a Japanese zither) into her music. She blends a hard bebop sound with these Japanese musical ideas.		zither　ツィター（弦楽器）
■■■■■■■■ That she not only fought but won praise and admiration for her work is a testament to the spirit of Akiyoshi. As both Asian and female in a Western- and male-dominated art form as jazz, she has had to fight against stereotypes. Then again this is a women who constantly challenges preconceived notions, and don't be surprised if her solo career will break as much, or even more, new ground.		admiration　感嘆 testament to ...　…のあかし dominate　…を支配する stereotype　固定観念 preconceived notion　先入観

－written by Brian Maitland

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