Hidehiko Matsumoto was born in Okayama Prefecture on October 12, 1926. He was a teenager playing professionally in Yokohama in 1944 when American servicemen at the camps he worked pinned the name “Sleepy” on him; it stuck, helped along by a relaxed tenor style that sounded half-asleep. By 1949 he was in the Yokohama bebop group CB Eight, and in 1953 he co-founded the Big Four with drummer George Kawaguchi, pianist Hachidai Nakamura and bassist Mitsuru Ono, a quartet credited with helping set off Japan's first jazz boom. He joined Hideo Shiraki's quintet in 1959, led his own groups from 1964 (Takeshi Inomata, Akira Miyazawa, George Otsuka and Isao Suzuki passed through), and played with Gerald Wilson at Monterey in 1963. Japanese Wikipedia says Montreux for 1963; the English page and a German biography say Monterey, and Monterey is what this entry follows. He died on February 29, 2000, in Tokyo.
Cover of <em>Jazz Battle Series: K. Saijoh vs. H. Matsumoto</em> (Teichiku Records), with Matsumoto on tenor saxophone at right. Used as a stand-in because no free-licensed photograph of Matsumoto could be found. Album cover art, copyright Teichiku Records, all rights reserved — not a Creative Commons or public-domain image.
Sources: English Wikipedia — Hidehiko Matsumoto (born October 12, 1926, Okayama; died February 29, 2000; CB Nine, Six Josés, Big Four; Shiraki 1959; Gerald Wilson at Monterey 1963; own groups from 1964) , Japanese Wikipedia — 松本英彦 (nickname from U.S. servicemen in 1944; CB Eight 1949; Big Four 1953; Montreux claim for 1963) , JazzProfiles.com — full profile of Hidehiko Matsumoto
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