Mari Nakamoto, Isao Suzuki, Kazumi Watanabe

*2026 stock* The third album from singer Mari Nakamoto for Three Blind Mice, and the one that pushes hardest at the conventions of mainstream vocal jazz. The line-up is the giveaway: alongside Nakamoto's voice, the record places bassist Isao Suzuki at the centre of the rhythm section and brings in Kazumi Watanabe on guitar, the same Watanabe who would shortly become one of the major figures in Japanese fusion and progressive jazz. The result is a vocal record where the accompaniment is unmistakably forward-looking.

Watanabe's chord voicings push against the standards repertoire with a harmonic awareness that wasn't yet typical in this format, and Suzuki's bass plays a much more melodic, conversational role than the genre usually demanded. Nakamoto herself sings with the warm directness that was her trademark, but the framing means even familiar material lands differently. A vocal jazz date with much more underneath the surface than its sleeve suggests, and one of the most intriguing entries in the singer's catalogue. Reissued in the Three Blind Mice Supreme Collection 1500.