Episode 1999

“This is my American Dream”

This was my idea from the beginning: I started a plan to make a CD with songs from the WWII era and to send them to nursing homes in the U.S. At the time I was planning to get the CD to about 300 nursing homes across the country.

The title means that this was a huge dream for me, a young woman from a small town in Japan. My dream was to play and record these songs with musicians who knew this music, and to reach people in America who had lived through this era.


I still was not clear on how to make progress with my dream. I decided to start with a demo.

I found musicians: Artie Baker, who was 84 at the time, Leonard Gaskin, who was 77, and Japanese pianist Toya.
I chose musicians who played with great warmth and had a feeling for this music.
I didn’t set up a rehearsal to keep my expenses low, and so some of the musicians were meeting for the first time at the actual recording session.


We met at Sean Swinney Studio, on the Upper West Side of New York City. Sean arranged his small apartment to record the band. He had great microphones, but no vocal booth, so we played together in the same room.

On the session, I was nervous…
Leonard told me, “Seina, you are the leader of this session, so tell us how what you want to do. Otherwise we can’t follow you.” His words are still with me.

On “I’ll Be Seeing You”, I told the musicians to play it as a ballad, but Artie told me “This tune swings, and even Sinatra sings it in a medium swing.” This is the reason his solo part is double-time, and he swings on my CD. So I wanted to record his take on “I’ll Be Seeing You”.
Every time I listen to this song, I remember you, Artie.

I miss your smile and laugh.


Life is not always good.
Things had not been going very well, and I was in a tight economical situation. So I decided to go back to Japan. Still, I thought it is possible to make one CD if I record five or six songs and put them together with the songs that had I recorded last year. I started to make a plan for a new recording session with money I had left over.

I called Leonard and told him my plan.
“Seina, a soft saxophone would go good with your voice”. He introduced me to British musician Howard Kimbo. We added Ron Rollier on piano.
I made a plan to record, but without a drummer.

After a few days, Leonard told me, “Seina, how about a drummer?”
“Drums… My budget is really tight. Maybe I don’t need drums.”
“Seina, you need drums.”
“Well…If the great drummer Grady Tate could do it, I would work this out. But of course it is IMPOSSIBLE.”
“Call Grady, I’ll give you his number.”
“Hey, what are you talking about? What will I say to him?”
“Seina, just tell him what you want to do.”
“No! I can’t…”
“Call him and tell him what’s going on.”

“Hello, Mr. Grady Tate. My name is Seina and I am a friend of Leonard Gaskin’s. I’m going to ask you a silly thing. Leonard told me to call you… I am young singer from Japan. I have a dream. I want to record songs from WWII with musicians who lived through that era and make a CD to send to nursing homes in the U.S. I have a recording session scheduled for it. I can pay only a little for a six-hour session, but I promised Leonard Gaskin I would call you..I am really sorry to if this sounds stupid…”

“When is the recording?”
“October 26.”
“Ok, I will do it.”
“Really? But I can only pay some dollars. You can say NO.”
“Baby, if you can pay only that much, that’s what I will charge”.

This was my first encounter with the wonderful Mr. Grady Tate.


I started to work the next day when I arrived in Japan.
Everyone I knew helped me and encouraged my dream.

At the same time, I contacted the publishers who control the copyrights of the songs I wanted to record. Some publishers gave me a license for free, some gave me a great discount.

In October, I flew to NY. I worked on mastering the songs with Sean Swinney, and made a web site… Really busy days.

On December 2nd, the CD was ready and I started packing copies for 3500 nursing homes. Of course, I couldn’t finish this all by myself. Friends came, helped and encouraged me.


I realized my dream!
I made my dream come true.

The people, the experiences, and letters from nursing homes had made my life really meaningful and precious.

I really appreciate everyone’s cooperation and help.
Thank you so much.

Translation: helped by Floyd Fisher