Tak Shindo
Encyclopedia
Takeshi "Tak" Shindo was a Japanese-American musician, composer and arranger. He was one of the prominent artists in the exotica
music genre during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Shindo also founded a dance band in 1947 and was a frequent lecturer and writer on Japanese music. He first gained prominence for his work on the 1957 motion picture "Sayonara
," served as the musical director for the television series "Gunsmoke
," and composed theme music for "The Ed Sullivan Show
" and "Wagon Train
." He is most remembered for the exotica albums he released from 1958 to 1962, including "Mganga! The Primitive Sounds of Tak Shindo" (1958), "Brass and Bamboo" (1959) and "Accent on Bamboo" (1960). He also released several albums in Japan during the mid-1960s that blended American and Japanese musical traditions. In 1980, he made a documentary film, "Encounter with the Past," about the Manzanar
relocation camp where he was relocated in 1942 as part of the Japanese American internment
policy.
. He moved with his family to Los Angeles
in 1927. He enrolled at Los Angeles State College
in 1941, but he was relocated to the Manzanar Relocation Center in early 1942 as part of the Japanese American internment
policy that was adopted after the outbreak of war between the United States and Japan. Shindo spent more than two years at Manzanar. While at Manzanar, he worked as a reporter for the Manzanar Free Press and developed his interest in music. Music professor W. Anthony Sheppard, who published an article on Shindo and his music in 2005, concluded that, had it not been for his internment at Manzanar, Shindo would most likely have become an electrical engineer. Sheppard observed:
Shindo enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1944 and served as a Japanese language instructor in the Military Intelligence Service
at Fort Snelling, Minnesota
. While at Fort Snelling, he also continued his correspondence courses in music and became an arranger for the Nisei Eager Beavers band.
Following the war, Shindo studied music at Los Angeles State College and studied jazz composition at the American Operatic Laboratory school. He also formed a dance band in 1947, which he continued to operate for more than 25 years. In a 1947 interview, Shindo discussed the multi-ethnic composition of his band: "As long as a player can produce good music, that's all I'm interested in. My band is supposed to be Japanese-American. But besides the four Nisei
on it, I have Jewish, Negro, Russian, Irish, and Mexican-American boys on it. And we have a swell time together."
Shindo received his bachelor's degree in 1951 from Los Angeles City College and subsequently studied under film composer Miklós Rózsa
at the University of Southern California
. Early in his career, Shindo worked on several television series, including service as the musical director for "Gunsmoke
" and "Suspense." He also composed theme music for "The Ed Sullivan Show
," "Wagon Train
," and "Adventure."
." Shindo was charged with blending Japanese and western musical influences, using Japanese instruments and a mixed choral group of 38 voices of which 16 were female Japanese and four were male Japanese. Ron Burton, in an article distributed by the United Press, wrote of Shindo's work on the film: "The movie is being regarded as a vehicle that will create a demand for Japanese music in this country and do much to give the Western world a better understanding of Japanese culture." Shindo added, "An important part of what this picture is doing for an understanding of Japanese culture comes from the music. We have, of course, adapted it for the occidental ear."
Shindo later recalled that his work on "Sayonara" opened up numerous opportunities for him. He noted that "the whole thing just lined up one after the other ... it just rode and rode to the point I couldn't keep up with it anymore." Other projects in which Shindo was asked to consult (or compose) include "Cinerama Seven Wonders of the World" (1955), "Stopover Tokyo" (1957), "Escapade in Japan
" (1957), "Gunsmoke
" (1957), "Wagon Train
" (1958, composer for episode titled The Sakae Ito Story), "Studio One
" (1958, composer/director of The Kurushiki Incident), "Cry for Happy
" (1961) and "A Majority of One
" (1962).
named Shindo as a "Giant of Jazz" in the fifteenth article in Feather's series on the "giants of jazz." His albums won favor with listeners of music in the exotica
genre that also included artists Martin Denny
, Les Baxter
and Arthur Lyman
. The popularity of exotica
peaked in 1959 as Denny's album "Exotica" spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and was the No. 3 album of the year according to Billboard. Shindo later recalled what attracted him to the style: "Everyone is looking for a style. So in my case, I decided being Oriental, I had something I should draw upon and so I decided to go 'exotic sound.'"
genre. The album explores the primal rhythms of African music with influences from Afro-Cuban jazz
. It also features animal sounds and chants to create an exotic, fantasy feel. Music critic Jason Ankeny described "Mganga!" as "vibrant and intoxicating, with a rhythmic intensity quite uncommon for its era. For an artificial experience, it packs a genuine wallop." "Mganga!" has been called "Shindo's orchestral fantasy of Africa" and is probably the best known of his albums in the exotica genre.
. The album featured 10 standards and two original compositions by Shindo, combining the sounds of traditional Japanese instruments, including koto
, samisen, and bamboo flutes, with Western brass with "orchestration in tempos and moods that range from ballads to swing." The fanfare drums used in the recording were borrowed from the Tenrikyo Church in Los Angeles, and musicians from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra contributed a Chinese gong acquired on a trip to Hong Kong
. At the time of the album's release, Shindo said: "It . . . introduces a foreign sound to the American ear. Oriental instruments have been used for solo passages in record before, but as far as I know this is the first time they have ever been an integral part of the arrangements." One reviewer rated it as the "Album of the Month" for April 1960, calling it a "sparkling debut" with "a new, refreshing blend of music of the East and West, big band dance arrangements spiced with exotic instrumental sounds of the orient." Esquire
magazine in 1960 wrote: "Tak mixes ancient Eastern and modern Western instruments in a steamy dance sukiyaki." Another reviewer wrote that "the music is neither Oriental nor jazz, but a delightful, different sound" providing "nothing but fun for stereo fanciers." Writing for allmusic.com, Richard Pierson wrote that Shindo's "skillful arrangements of big band chestnuts and Hollywood theme tunes achieved a blend that was witty, cosmopolitan, and almost immediately outmoded as the ascendancy of rock and its youth market turned American pop music into an arena of generational identity politics."
's 1960 album, "Yellow Unicorn." One reviewer wrote: "Also on this record is some exciting music by Tak Shindo: Behind this music's fragility there is great emotional power. It's Japanese in antecedent one supposes. If you're too young to have this record stir memories, perhaps it will stimulate you into washing out your gym clothes and going out to look the world over."
Shindo's albums drew attention for their cover art as well as the music. Music professor W. Anthony Sheppard has written that the covers of "Brass and Bamboo" and "Accent on Bamboo" are both divided "into two utterly different racial/musical realms." One half of the covers features a Caucasian woman "presented as sexually sophisticated and modern as she appears caressing and surrounded by phallic instruments," while the other half features a Japanese woman dressed in a kimono "demurely holding their instruments and representing an alternative form of sensuality."
"Accent on Bamboo" was requested by Capitol Records as a follow-up to the success of "Brass and Bamboo" and Shindo was asked to complete the follow-up album within 30 days. "Accent on Bamboo" did not achieve the same level of commercial success as its predecessor, and Capitol informed Shindo in March 1961 that it would not renew his contract.
. The album "use[d] oriental instruments to show how universal such American songs as 'Wagon Wheels' and 'San Antonio Rose' can be."
in the mid-1960s. His work, "Impressions for Piano and Strings," premiered at Cal State Los Angeles in 1967. In 1970, Shindo received a master's degree in Asian Studies from the University of Southern California
. He was the arranger and director for the grand opening of the Japanese Pavilion at EPCOT
Disney
in 1979, the same year that he retired from Cal State LA. In 1980, he released a documentary film, "Encounter with the Past," about the Manzanar relocation camp.
Shindo's albums received renewed attention in the 1990s with the revival of interest in exotica and ultra lounge
music. Shindo died in 2002 at San Dimas, California
at age 79.
Exotica
Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same title, popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s, typically with the suburban set who came of age during World War II. The musical colloquialism, exotica, means tropical ersatz: the non-native, pseudo experience of Oceania...
music genre during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Shindo also founded a dance band in 1947 and was a frequent lecturer and writer on Japanese music. He first gained prominence for his work on the 1957 motion picture "Sayonara
Sayonara
Sayonara is a 1957 color American film starring Marlon Brando. It tells the story of an American Air Force flier who was an "ace" fighter pilot during the Korean War....
," served as the musical director for the television series "Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
," and composed theme music for "The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
" and "Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
." He is most remembered for the exotica albums he released from 1958 to 1962, including "Mganga! The Primitive Sounds of Tak Shindo" (1958), "Brass and Bamboo" (1959) and "Accent on Bamboo" (1960). He also released several albums in Japan during the mid-1960s that blended American and Japanese musical traditions. In 1980, he made a documentary film, "Encounter with the Past," about the Manzanar
Manzanar
Manzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California's Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, it is...
relocation camp where he was relocated in 1942 as part of the Japanese American internment
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
policy.
Early years and television work
Shindo was born in 1922 in Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
. He moved with his family to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1927. He enrolled at Los Angeles State College
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...
in 1941, but he was relocated to the Manzanar Relocation Center in early 1942 as part of the Japanese American internment
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
policy that was adopted after the outbreak of war between the United States and Japan. Shindo spent more than two years at Manzanar. While at Manzanar, he worked as a reporter for the Manzanar Free Press and developed his interest in music. Music professor W. Anthony Sheppard, who published an article on Shindo and his music in 2005, concluded that, had it not been for his internment at Manzanar, Shindo would most likely have become an electrical engineer. Sheppard observed:
"While he had some musical experience, he had just begun college before Pearl Harbor and had no thoughts of pursuing music as a career. ... Shindo performed in one of the camp orchestras and took advantage of the camp's musical education program. Most significantly for his later career, he also took correspondence courses in orchestration."
Shindo enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1944 and served as a Japanese language instructor in the Military Intelligence Service
Military Intelligence Service (United States)
The Military Intelligence Service was a World War II U.S. military unit consisting of two branches, the Japanese American Unit described here and the German-Austrian Unit based at Camp Ritchie, described partly in Ritchie Boys. The unit described here was primarily composed of Japanese-American...
at Fort Snelling, Minnesota
Fort Snelling, Minnesota
Fort Snelling, originally known as Fort Saint Anthony, was a military fortification located at the confluence of the Minnesota River and Mississippi River in Hennepin County, Minnesota...
. While at Fort Snelling, he also continued his correspondence courses in music and became an arranger for the Nisei Eager Beavers band.
Following the war, Shindo studied music at Los Angeles State College and studied jazz composition at the American Operatic Laboratory school. He also formed a dance band in 1947, which he continued to operate for more than 25 years. In a 1947 interview, Shindo discussed the multi-ethnic composition of his band: "As long as a player can produce good music, that's all I'm interested in. My band is supposed to be Japanese-American. But besides the four Nisei
Nisei
During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage...
on it, I have Jewish, Negro, Russian, Irish, and Mexican-American boys on it. And we have a swell time together."
Shindo received his bachelor's degree in 1951 from Los Angeles City College and subsequently studied under film composer Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa was a Hungarian-born composer trained in Germany , and active in France , England , and the United States , with extensive sojourns in Italy from 1953...
at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. Early in his career, Shindo worked on several television series, including service as the musical director for "Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
" and "Suspense." He also composed theme music for "The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
," "Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
," and "Adventure."
Japanese music
Shindo also collected Japanese instruments and wrote and lectured on Japanese music. In the late 1950s and 1960s, Shindo was frequently called on by Hollywood film and television productions to serve as a technical consultant on projects incorporating Japanese music and themes. In his article on Shindo, Professor Sheppard noted: "Shindo suddenly found the mainstream spotlight shining on him in the late 1950s as the representative of Japanese musical culture in Hollywood film and television." He first gained general notoriety for his work as technical adviser for the music in the 1957 motion picture, "SayonaraSayonara
Sayonara is a 1957 color American film starring Marlon Brando. It tells the story of an American Air Force flier who was an "ace" fighter pilot during the Korean War....
." Shindo was charged with blending Japanese and western musical influences, using Japanese instruments and a mixed choral group of 38 voices of which 16 were female Japanese and four were male Japanese. Ron Burton, in an article distributed by the United Press, wrote of Shindo's work on the film: "The movie is being regarded as a vehicle that will create a demand for Japanese music in this country and do much to give the Western world a better understanding of Japanese culture." Shindo added, "An important part of what this picture is doing for an understanding of Japanese culture comes from the music. We have, of course, adapted it for the occidental ear."
Shindo later recalled that his work on "Sayonara" opened up numerous opportunities for him. He noted that "the whole thing just lined up one after the other ... it just rode and rode to the point I couldn't keep up with it anymore." Other projects in which Shindo was asked to consult (or compose) include "Cinerama Seven Wonders of the World" (1955), "Stopover Tokyo" (1957), "Escapade in Japan
Escapade in Japan
Escapade in Japan is a 1957 American family adventure film. It was directed by Arthur Lubin and starring Teresa Wright, Cameron Mitchell, Jon Provost and Roger Nakagawa. It also featured an early appearance of Clint Eastwood as a pilot.-Synopsis:...
" (1957), "Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
" (1957), "Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
" (1958, composer for episode titled The Sakae Ito Story), "Studio One
Studio One
Studio One is one of Jamaica's most renowned record labels and recording studios, having been described as "the Motown of Jamaica." One online review of "Respect to Studio One" released by Heartbeat adds "Stax-Volt" to the American R&B comparison and describes Studio One's founder Clement...
" (1958, composer/director of The Kurushiki Incident), "Cry for Happy
Cry for Happy
Cry for Happy is a 1961 colour movie directed by George Marshall.-Plot:A Navy photographer and his three-man team occupy a Tokyo geisha house during the Korean War. Though off-limits,...
" (1961) and "A Majority of One
A Majority of One
-Plot:The comedy involves Mrs. Jacoby, a Jewish widow from Brooklyn, New York, and Koichi Asano, a millionaire widower from Tokyo. Mrs. Jacoby is sailing to Japan with her daughter and foreign service officer son-in-law who is being posted to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo...
" (1962).
Recording artist
Shindo is most remembered for the albums he recorded featuring a mix of eastern and western musical styles and instrumentation. Jazz composer and critic Leonard FeatherLeonard Feather
Leonard Geoffrey Feather was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.-Biography:...
named Shindo as a "Giant of Jazz" in the fifteenth article in Feather's series on the "giants of jazz." His albums won favor with listeners of music in the exotica
Exotica
Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same title, popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s, typically with the suburban set who came of age during World War II. The musical colloquialism, exotica, means tropical ersatz: the non-native, pseudo experience of Oceania...
genre that also included artists Martin Denny
Martin Denny
Martin Denny was an American piano-player and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing well into his 80s, he toured the world popularizing his brand of lounge music which included exotic percussion, imaginative rearrangements of popular songs, and...
, Les Baxter
Les Baxter
Les Baxter was an American musician and composer.Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer...
and Arthur Lyman
Arthur Lyman
Arthur Lyman was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His group popularized a style of faux-Polynesian music during the 1950s and 1960s which later became known as exotica...
. The popularity of exotica
Exotica
Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same title, popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s, typically with the suburban set who came of age during World War II. The musical colloquialism, exotica, means tropical ersatz: the non-native, pseudo experience of Oceania...
peaked in 1959 as Denny's album "Exotica" spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and was the No. 3 album of the year according to Billboard. Shindo later recalled what attracted him to the style: "Everyone is looking for a style. So in my case, I decided being Oriental, I had something I should draw upon and so I decided to go 'exotic sound.'"
Mganga! The Primitive Sounds of Tak Shindo
Shindo's 1958 debut album, "Mganga! The Primitive Sounds of Tak Shindo," was his first foray into the exoticaExotica
Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same title, popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s, typically with the suburban set who came of age during World War II. The musical colloquialism, exotica, means tropical ersatz: the non-native, pseudo experience of Oceania...
genre. The album explores the primal rhythms of African music with influences from Afro-Cuban jazz
Afro-Cuban jazz
Afro-Cuban jazz is an early form of Latin jazz that mixes Afro-Cuban rhythms with harmonies and musical timbre typical of Bebop. It was developed in the early 1940s by both Cuban musicians and Jazz musicians, with Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Bauza, Machito and Stan Kenton among some of the most notable...
. It also features animal sounds and chants to create an exotic, fantasy feel. Music critic Jason Ankeny described "Mganga!" as "vibrant and intoxicating, with a rhythmic intensity quite uncommon for its era. For an artificial experience, it packs a genuine wallop." "Mganga!" has been called "Shindo's orchestral fantasy of Africa" and is probably the best known of his albums in the exotica genre.
Brass and Bamboo
In late 1959, Shindo's album "Brass and Bamboo" was released by Capitol RecordsCapitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
. The album featured 10 standards and two original compositions by Shindo, combining the sounds of traditional Japanese instruments, including koto
Koto (musical instrument)
The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...
, samisen, and bamboo flutes, with Western brass with "orchestration in tempos and moods that range from ballads to swing." The fanfare drums used in the recording were borrowed from the Tenrikyo Church in Los Angeles, and musicians from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra contributed a Chinese gong acquired on a trip to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. At the time of the album's release, Shindo said: "It . . . introduces a foreign sound to the American ear. Oriental instruments have been used for solo passages in record before, but as far as I know this is the first time they have ever been an integral part of the arrangements." One reviewer rated it as the "Album of the Month" for April 1960, calling it a "sparkling debut" with "a new, refreshing blend of music of the East and West, big band dance arrangements spiced with exotic instrumental sounds of the orient." Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
magazine in 1960 wrote: "Tak mixes ancient Eastern and modern Western instruments in a steamy dance sukiyaki." Another reviewer wrote that "the music is neither Oriental nor jazz, but a delightful, different sound" providing "nothing but fun for stereo fanciers." Writing for allmusic.com, Richard Pierson wrote that Shindo's "skillful arrangements of big band chestnuts and Hollywood theme tunes achieved a blend that was witty, cosmopolitan, and almost immediately outmoded as the ascendancy of rock and its youth market turned American pop music into an arena of generational identity politics."
Rod McKuen's "Yellow Unicorn"
Shindo also gained positive reviews for his instrumental work on Rod McKuenRod McKuen
Rod McKuen is an American poet, songwriter, composer, and singer. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide range of recordings, which included popular music, spoken word poetry, film soundtracks, and classical music...
's 1960 album, "Yellow Unicorn." One reviewer wrote: "Also on this record is some exciting music by Tak Shindo: Behind this music's fragility there is great emotional power. It's Japanese in antecedent one supposes. If you're too young to have this record stir memories, perhaps it will stimulate you into washing out your gym clothes and going out to look the world over."
Accent on Bamboo
In his 1960 album, "Accent on Bamboo," Shindo minimized the Japanese musical elements in favor of "largely straightforward big-band arrangements." The album's liner notes observe that "this well-arranged meeting of East and West is a swinging thing, and Oriental too -- but scrutable."Shindo's albums drew attention for their cover art as well as the music. Music professor W. Anthony Sheppard has written that the covers of "Brass and Bamboo" and "Accent on Bamboo" are both divided "into two utterly different racial/musical realms." One half of the covers features a Caucasian woman "presented as sexually sophisticated and modern as she appears caressing and surrounded by phallic instruments," while the other half features a Japanese woman dressed in a kimono "demurely holding their instruments and representing an alternative form of sensuality."
"Accent on Bamboo" was requested by Capitol Records as a follow-up to the success of "Brass and Bamboo" and Shindo was asked to complete the follow-up album within 30 days. "Accent on Bamboo" did not achieve the same level of commercial success as its predecessor, and Capitol informed Shindo in March 1961 that it would not renew his contract.
Far East Goes Western
Shindo's 1962 album, "Far East Goes Western," was produced by Quincy JonesQuincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
. The album "use[d] oriental instruments to show how universal such American songs as 'Wagon Wheels' and 'San Antonio Rose' can be."
"Sea of Spring" and Nippon Victor recordings
Shindo's "Sea of Spring," released in 1966, was one of several recorded in Japan for the Nippon Victor label in Japan in 1966. The album features traditional Japanese folk melodies with eastern and western instrumentation. In his review for allmusic.com, Jason Ankeny calls it "clearly the most appealing and imaginative album of the bunch ... A beautiful, thoughtful album, free of kitsch and irony." His other albums for the Nippon Victor label included "Mood in Japan" (1964) and "Midnight in San Francisco" (1966).Later years
Shindo joined the faculty at California State University, Los AngelesCalifornia State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...
in the mid-1960s. His work, "Impressions for Piano and Strings," premiered at Cal State Los Angeles in 1967. In 1970, Shindo received a master's degree in Asian Studies from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. He was the arranger and director for the grand opening of the Japanese Pavilion at EPCOT
Epcot
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named...
Disney
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...
in 1979, the same year that he retired from Cal State LA. In 1980, he released a documentary film, "Encounter with the Past," about the Manzanar relocation camp.
Shindo's albums received renewed attention in the 1990s with the revival of interest in exotica and ultra lounge
Ultra lounge
An ultra lounge is a style nightclub lounge, that came to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Ultralounges tend to be small to mid-sized venues, featuring cocktails and an upscale atmosphere....
music. Shindo died in 2002 at San Dimas, California
San Dimas, California
San Dimas is a city located in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 33,371. The city historically took its name from San Dismas Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains above the northern section of present day San Dimas...
at age 79.
Discography
Original LPs- Martin Denny, "Primitiva" (1958, Liberty LRP-3087) - Shindo played kotoKoto (musical instrument)The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...
on Denny's album - Tak Shindo, "Mganga! Primitive Sounds" (1958, Edison International 100)
- Tak Shindo, "Brass and Bamboo" (1959, Capitol ST-1345)
- Rod McKuen, "The Yellow Unicorn" (1960, Imperial LP 12036)
- Tak Shindo, "Accent on Bamboo" (1961, Capitol T-1433)
- Tak Shindo, "Far East Goes Western" (1962, Mercury PPS 2031)
- Tak Shindo, "Mood in Japan" (1964, Nippon Victor)
- Tak Shindo, "Midnight in San Francisco" (1966, Nippon Victor)
- Tak Shindo, "Sea of Spring" (1966, Nippon Victor)
- Paul Marks, "East Meets West: Golden Melodies of Japan" (Imperial LP 12057)
Film and television credits
- "Tokyo Joe," (1949, Columbia Pictures) - uncredited assistant composer
- "CineramaCineramaCinerama is the trademarked name for a widescreen process which works by simultaneously projecting images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply-curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. It is also the trademarked name for the corporation which was formed to market it...
Seven Wonders of the World" (1955, Warner-Adventure) - composer - "SayonaraSayonaraSayonara is a 1957 color American film starring Marlon Brando. It tells the story of an American Air Force flier who was an "ace" fighter pilot during the Korean War....
" (1957, Warner Bros.) - technical supervisor music (uncredited assistant composer) - "Stopover Tokyo" (1957) - music supervisor, Japanese music
- "Escapade in JapanEscapade in JapanEscapade in Japan is a 1957 American family adventure film. It was directed by Arthur Lubin and starring Teresa Wright, Cameron Mitchell, Jon Provost and Roger Nakagawa. It also featured an early appearance of Clint Eastwood as a pilot.-Synopsis:...
" (1957, RKO Pictures) - uncredited assistant composer - "GunsmokeGunsmokeGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
" (1957, CBS television) - music supervisor for several episodes - "Wagon TrainWagon TrainWagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
" (1958, NBC television) - composer for episode titled The Sakae Ito Story - Studio OneStudio OneStudio One is one of Jamaica's most renowned record labels and recording studios, having been described as "the Motown of Jamaica." One online review of "Respect to Studio One" released by Heartbeat adds "Stax-Volt" to the American R&B comparison and describes Studio One's founder Clement...
(1958, CBS television) - composer/director of "The Kurushiki Incident" - "Cry for HappyCry for HappyCry for Happy is a 1961 colour movie directed by George Marshall.-Plot:A Navy photographer and his three-man team occupy a Tokyo geisha house during the Korean War. Though off-limits,...
" (1961, Columbia Pictures) - arranger and uncredited assistant composer - "A Majority of OneA Majority of One-Plot:The comedy involves Mrs. Jacoby, a Jewish widow from Brooklyn, New York, and Koichi Asano, a millionaire widower from Tokyo. Mrs. Jacoby is sailing to Japan with her daughter and foreign service officer son-in-law who is being posted to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo...
" (1962, Warner Bros.) - uncredited assistant composer - "Geisha Fantasy" (1962) - arranger for show at Las Vegas Desert Inn
- "Japan: A New Dawn Over Asia - Japan in the 20th Century" (1965, TV documentary) - composer
- "Encounter with the Past" (documentary, 1980)
- "Siegfried and Roy Superstar" (1983) - composer for show at Las Vegas Stardust Hotel