TOWARD THE RISING SUN
On April 19, 1952, the Gene Krupa Jazz Trio—Krupa at the traps, Charlie Ventura on tenor and bass saxophones, and Teddy Napoleon on piano—became the first American jazz group ever to perform in Japan. After their arduous two-week tour, the jazz world was forever changed, as were the lives of the three musicians.
Although it may be regarded as a mere footnote today, the reality is that this was history-making stuff. Think of it: An entire country was opened to jazz. Krupa’s career was revived after economics had forced him to shut down his big band the year before. Ventura became an international name. And Napoleon, reunited with Krupa after a six-year layoff, continued to perform with the drummer for another six years.
Make no mistake, this was definitely not a State Department-sponsored goodwill tour. All involved in the enterprise—artists, promoters, theater and club owners, and especially booking agent Joe Glaser—were in it principally to make money, and all were compensated nicely. Glaser’s records show that for the two weeks in Japan, the group received $5,000 per week, plus first-class round-trip airfare, food and lodging, and additional compensation for interviews, record dates, promo appearances, etc. The $10K base rate they earned would equal about $100K in today’s funds. In retrospect, though, when taking into account the ridiculous amount of work Glaser booked for the band during those two weeks, one could argue that they should have been paid 10 times that.
JAZZ IN JAPAN
The young people of Japan had fully embraced jazz by
