Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Hidehiko “Sleepy” Matsumoto (松本英彦) was born on October 12, 1926 in Okayama, Japan. He attended Fuchu High School where he learned the saxophone followed by matriculation through the University of Electro-Communications.

In the late 1940s he played bebop in Japan with the group CB Nine, then joined The Six Josés and The Big Four, a group which included George Kawaguchi, Hachidai Nakamura, and Mitsuru Ono.

In 1959 he became a member of Hideo Shiraki’s small ensemble, and played with Gerald Wilson at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival and Toshiko Akiyoshi in 1964. Starting in 1964 Hidehiko led his own ensembles, which included sidemen Takeshi Inomata, Akira Miyazawa, George Otsuka, and Isao Suzuki.

On July 22 and 24, 1966, he played with the John Coltrane quintet in Tokyo, Japan while the group toured Japan. Tenor saxophonist and bandleader Hidehiko “Sleepy” Matsumoto passed away on February 29, 2000 in Tokyo, Japan.

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