Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media

Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media was the jazz-rock group formed in Japan in 1969 by saxophonist Jiro Inagaki (1933-2024). Recording for Nippon Columbia in the early 1970s, the band mixed jazz with rock, funk and soul. Its albums later became sought after by rare groove collectors and several have been reissued since the 2000s. Inagaki taught himself the saxophone and played with Hana Hajime and the Crazy Cats, George Kawaguchi and Hideo Shiraki before leading his own quintet from 1962.