September 6,2016
Kyosen Ohashi (大橋巨泉) has died. He was 82.
He was one of Japan’s most popular TV personalities from mid-1960s to 1990s.
Also he was famous as a jazz critic.
He entered Waseda University in 1952 to study journalism but quit the university and became a jazz critic.
He had two children, born to his former wife, both of whom are jazz singers.
There remains a translation of “Strange Fruit” as his achievements.
His fondness for Billie Holiday was exceptional.
I quote his comment from Swing Journal(1960) for her last recordings.
「私はかって一番愛した、この不世出の大歌手の悲しい遺作に点をつけたくない。
ただ黙って、白いクチナシの花を捧げる。」
”I don’t want to grade her sad posthumous work.
I once loved her.
In those days she was incomparable singer.
So I want to dedicate white gardenia flowers in silence.”
出典 スイングジャーナル 1960年
Here is Billie Holiday sings “Strange Fruit” Live 1959.
