Suzie Kuroiwa

The owner is a jazz singer Shizue Kroiwa. (We call her Suzie.) When I went to Sapporo for an academic conference, I enjoyed her live there for the first time. We talked and drank until the dawn, and we became friends. I felt that she had various experiences and a tough time when she was young; visiting the U.S. army in Vietnam, and that everything has influenced her way of singing soulfully.

She has put her songs on CDs with big names as Junior Mance and John Hicks. She sings jazz with the feeling of soul music. No doubt that her powerful songs are cool, but I prefer her calm ballads. She is one of the singers who made me surprised.

When I listened to her songs for the first time, I couldn't imagine whose ways of singing she consulted…I guess most of you have had felt like this: "This is the Billie's way of singing. He / She mimics Billie Holiday!" I didn't feel like that at that time.

While we talk about jazz, various ways of singing in a certain phrase of a song pop out from her mouth. It means that she has listened to a lot, studied them, prepared many in her memory box and given us wonderful pieces in her live. I'm sure that she is a great and the most diligent singer in Japan!

I'll tell you another episode. She wrote to me several times after I came back to Tokyo. Her hand-writings were so wonderful and moved me. People say that his / her hand-writings show how he / she is, and her writings show how much punctual and precise she is. She never neglects and takes care of any matters, I guess. Since then, I tend to write to her and other people by not typing but hand-writing.

Every famous jazz man comes to see her at "Day By Day" when they visit Sapporo.

I met her at Swing, Ginza in April, 2003 since we had met five years ago. It was also a great show.

George Kawaguchi / New Big Four + 1 accompanied. The photo of George is out of focus for I took it without a strobe light. Many Suzie's fans came there. One of them came from Sapporo to Tokyo for only this live.

We usually can't listen to her singing in Tokyo, but in all of small chances of us we always can listen to her real songs from the bottom of her soul. Listeners are moved by her songs.

The more she matures, the mellower she becomes than before. She told me that she had a big disease around 2000. But to our joy, she recovered and came back to stages.

Anyway, she differs from chick singers around there.

I'm sure she is still studying, studying and studying. You can know it when you listen to her songs.

If you like jazz vocal and haven't listened to her songs, please try soon. Suzie is a recommended singer in Japan.

The man on my left is Mr. Yoshiya Ono. He is my senior of judo club and knows a lot about jazz. It was him who introduced me Suzie.

"I'll write to you again," I said to Suzie and she murmured "It means I would be scolded again???" You might not see what we are talking about. I'll keep it secret.

We were lucky to see Suzie two times in Tokyo in 2003. The live of the second tour was the first one in B Flat in Akasaka, the live house we often go to.

The smiling lady in front of me is Michiko Ogawa. She graduated the same university 22 years later than me. She is a rare pianist who is good at playing the stride piano.

She had a 10th anniversary concert on October 25, 2003 at Tokyo Opera City. We "The OZ Sons" were invited as special guests at that time.

She likes playing and singing standard jazz and we can enjoy the graceful works in her lives. And Michiko was also moved and influenced by Suzie's songs.

Of course Suzie is a great singer, and she has a warm and good heart. The great works of hers are on the base of her personality. I can't count how many charity concerts she has given. Songs and hand-writings show one's life and character.

Suzie held the 40th Anniversary Ricital at Sapporo Education and Calture Hall on 24th of September, 2005.

She sent me the notice of the ricital, but I couldn't attend it becasue our new semester had begun this week.

■

She gave a concert in August 6, 2007 after a while. She said that it was a year and nine months absence to come to Tokyo. Now she can tell us that it was troublesome at a live in Yokohama in November, 2005. I couldn’t be there and my friend went there, but Suzie got sick and was taken by ambulance to hospital. She must have been too busy and tired after visiting a lot of places in Kanto area.

Tonight’s live was held at SWING in Ginza. The place was filled with audience and they seemed to look forward to it. At the end of her stage, Suzie introduced this site and me.

■

From February to the beginning of March in 2007, FIS Nordic Ski World Championship was held in Sapporo. A group of sportswriters from Germany visited Suzie’s place; Day By Day. One of them read this site in his country and checked it out. This happy happening shows that English pages are not purely ornamental. A person who translated this page is one of Suzie’s disciple, who teaches English at a junior high school. Her nickname is Kisshi. I remember that she translated this page first. (But actually, I didn’t visit Day By Day yet at that time…I was waiting for the time was coming…haha) Try to search “Jazz House in Sapporo” with Yahoo! U.S.A., and you’ll see the page about Day By Day of this site. The same thing happens on Yahoo! Deutshland.

This is the email sent by Kisshi, with excitement.

Dear Prof. Wakayama,

Now I’ve got a phone call from Naomi of Day By Day! She told me that a man from Germany is visiting there! He checked out your site in English version! He comes to Sapporo to report Nordic Ski World Championship! I talked with him on the phone! I told him that I go to Sapporo for taking Suzie’s lesson and we ar e going to meet at Day By Day! Thanks to you, I think to myself, “What a wonderful peaceful small world! Thank you (^.^)ノ〜 Kisshi

Well, the most impressive tune of tonight’s show was the ballad, "A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening." It is not the one that everyone knows or sings, but I really liked it. I listened to that song for the first time, and it was Suzie who sang it. It was worthy to listen to even only that tune.