Toshiyuki Miyama

Toshiyuki Miyama was a Japanese clarinettist and bandleader, born in Chiba in 1921, who also played alto and tenor saxophone, flute and bass clarinet. He is known as the leader of the New Herd, the big band he directed for more than fifty years, which moved from dance music to modern jazz in the 1960s and recorded widely in the 1970s. Toshiyuki Miyama joined a Japanese navy band in 1939 and played on ships during the Second World War. After the war he played in the Lucky Puppy Orchestra, and in 1950 he formed Jive Aces, a group heard mainly in clubs for the American occupation forces.