Formed in Tokyo, the jump blues & swing band, BLOODEST SAXOPHONE has been playing old-school vintage
sounds since 1998. The group's leader, Young Corn Shintaro, established the band with the ambition "to rule
the world with the saxophone." Young Corn Shintaro says “Jump Blues and Swing Jazz bring out the soul of
the tenor saxophone, especially when jumpin’’.
The group does not think of themselves as playing old music but instead just time traveled from the days when
Illinois Jacquet and Arnett Cobb were around. Their first album “Blood-est” was released in 2003; to date they
have released 12 albums and appeared on 18 compilations. Their music has been enchanting not only old school
blues/jazz lovers but also rock ‘n’ roll, rockabilly fans and mods alike; the band’s fiery performance at the event
“Mods May Day” is a history.
In 2012, the legendary honker Big Jay McNeely discovered them on internet, which led to a joint tour of Japan in 2013 and the live album in 2015. The combination of young and old generations brought forth the sounds of today’s Jump blues. The album recorded in 2014 at the studio in the foothills of Mt. Fuji featuring the great singer from the 60’s Louis Armstrong Orchestra, Jewel Brown, along with the album with McNeely, is highly acclaimed both in Japan and overseas.
Recording and playing with these music legends, band leader Young Corn says, was “super fun and they taught us that everything boils down to soul and call & response". Young Corn was very moved by how focused both artists were on entertaining the audience. Young Corn described how amazing it was when he momentarily felt like a better saxophone player while playing together. All this success led the Bloodest Saxophone to take the stage at Fuji Rock Festival in 2015, the biggest music festival in Japan. Additionally, they had a second Japan tour and recording with BIG JAY McNEELY. On New Year’s Eve of 2015 they started playing in Hong Kong and go back every year since. After appearing in Tokyo Jazz, a famous jazz event in Tokyo, they flew to Austin, Texas to record with blues/soul female singers for the album “Texas Queens 5”, an outstanding blues record in every respect. In 2018 they were invited to the historic Elkhart Jazz Festival, Indiana to play 5 shows in 4 days, including the eve. The words spread out and the moving standing ovation was covered by the local paper with the headline “To rule the world with the saxophone.” Elkhart is also the birthplace of the saxophone maker Conn. After the festival, Bloodest Saxophone was invited to the founder C.G.Conn’s mansion built in 1884, and received a warm hospitality. At the end of 2018, the band reunited with the singer Crystal Thomas, one of the featured singers on their album “Texas Queens 5” and successfully toured Japan and Hong Kong. In 2019, they welcomed Chrystal again to play Fuji Rock Festival, a full show to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Blues & Soul Records Magazine at Shibuya Club Quattro, as well as Setouchi Beach Jam in Onomichi city, Hiroshima, and the Memphis Brothers, Shimokitazawa, Tokyo. In 2019, they once again flew to Austin and played East Side King Festival.
BIOGRAPHY
JUMP BLUES & SWING
Afterwards they went back to Hong Kong and played their home ground Foxglove.
The band really wants to convey the excitement and true power of music to as many people as possible.
Being an instrumental band with no regular vocalist, they want to stay creative, try different ideas and evolve freely. 22 years after forming, they are heading for an international break and even more energy.
Young Corn believes that
all Bloodest Saxophone fans are cool and
“if you want to be cool, just listen to
the Bloodest Saxophone”.
BLOODEST SAXOPHONE are:
Koda “Young Corn” Shintaro (Sax star)
Yuki(baritone star)
Shu (Guitar star)
Masa (Bass star)
Kimi (Drum star)