Yonin-Bayashi -

Yonin-Bayashi (四人囃子) was a Japanese folk-psych band that made the 1973/74 Tam albums Hatachi no Genten and Isshoku-Sokuhatsu, followed by the 1976 CBS/Sony release Golden Picnics. They made four further albums through 1979 on Viento/See･Saw.

Members: 森園勝敏 [Katsutoshi Morizono] (guitar, vocals), 中村真一 [Shin’ichi Nakamura] (bass), 岡井大二 [Daiji Okai] (drums), 坂下秀実 [Hidemi Sakashita] (keyboards), 茂木由多加 [Yutaka Mogi] (keyboards), 佐久間正英 [Masahide Sakuma] (bass, guitar), Mitsuru Sutoh (guitar, vocals)

Background

Yonin-Bayashi formed in 1971 in Tokyo when guitarist-singer Katsutoshi Morizono, bassist Shin’ichi Nakamura, and drummer Daiji Okai expanded their high-school trio the San-nin with keyboardist Hidemi Sakashita.

Morizono began electric guitar with Ventures material and studied recordings by Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and Mike Bloomfield by junior high school. Okai was born in Tokyo in 1953 and met Morizono as a fellow high-school musician in 1969. Nakamura joined Morizono and Okai in the San-nin, while Okai brought childhood friend Sakashita into the quartet.

The San-nin entered the Urawa Rock ’n’ Roll Center circuit in 1970 while the members remained high-school students. Okai and Nakamura played an impromptu session in November at Saitama University. Morizono missed the event, so Nakamura switched from bass to guitar and lead vocals. The trio appeared in December at the Gyokuzoin Rock Festival in Urawa on a bill with Blues Creation and Mixing Machine. Sakashita completed the quartet in 1971, when Yonin-Bayashi appeared at the University of Tokyo May Festival and the “Unknown Bands General Mobilization” concert at Urawa Citizens Hall.

Yonin-Bayashi spent the next two years on university festivals, free concerts, and regional rock bills around Tokyo and Saitama. The quartet developed originals alongside stage arrangements of imported rock material and became known for a full-length version of the Pink Floyd epic “Echoes.” Yonin-Bayashi supported Flower Travellin’ Band in April 1972 at Saitama Hall and joined a multi-band free concert in September at Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall. The members also circulated demos to record companies while manager Tsuguaki Okai represented the group.

Yonin-Bayashi reached an agreement with the newly established Toho Records through the parent film company. Toho required the group to provide music connected with the film Hatachi no Genten in exchange for control over a subsequent original album. The quartet recorded the soundtrack material at Polydor Studios in 1973 and taped a five-song concert set in August at Roppongi Haiyuza as a working document of the developing repertoire. Yonin-Bayashi fulfilled the Toho condition with Hatachi no Genten in October 1973 and prepared the self-directed sessions for Isshoku-Sokuhatsu.

Discography: