Tip! Solar Wind captures OM at their zenith: a group guided by guitarist Seiji Hano whose only recorded statement has, over decades, achieved legendary status within Japanese jazz and beyond. Long consigned to cult acclaim, the album is finally available in a new reissue, inviting deeper appreciation of its striking balance between cosmopolitan polish and the ineffable sense of wabi-sabi - a melancholic, nostalgic, and profoundly resonant atmosphere unique to Japanese culture. Recorded in the early 1980s, OM’s sound offers a distinct response to contemporaneous ECM releases - the crystalline hybrids of Oregon and Codona -while anchoring itself in the textures of Japanese folk and the modal explorations of world jazz. Solar Wind’s instrumentation is notably broad: Hano’s sensitive guitar playing intertwines with Yoshihumi Okajima’s fluid fretless bass, Kenji Ohi’s luminous flute lines, the aching tabla and sitar interplay by Toshiya Arai and Kyoji Hoshikawa, and Keita Shiraishi’s percussion, creating a rich yet subtle wash of acoustic detail.
Tracks like “Windmill” - featured on Studio Mule’s Midnight in Tokyo Vol. 2 - immediately evoke the album’s brilliance. The interplay between Indian classical instrumentation and jazz harmonies is deftly navigated, never diluted, producing moments both striking and gently ephemeral. The album as a whole is marked by this careful equilibrium: not a single weak link, just a continuous, immersive flow that resonates long after listening. Each piece is sculpted, full of pause and presence, culminating in an experience that is both meditative and quietly adventurous. Now, with its reissue, Solar Wind stands revealed as a crucial achievement in Japanese jazz - both a classic of the country’s jazz-fusion and a testament to the enduring strength of cross-cultural musical dialogue. Whether revisited by longtime followers or discovered by new listeners, OM’s only album remains a model of grace, subtlety, and deeply-felt expression.
