Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio

*2026 stock* A mid-seventies entry from the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio, and one of the records where the leader's bluesy, groove-conscious side comes most clearly to the front. The title track is the Ramsey Lewis standard, and the choice tells you most of what you need to know about the date: Yamamoto's trio was a working unit happy to engage with the soul-jazz and groove-jazz vocabularies that had been moving the music since the late sixties.

The rest of the programme balances that with the lyrical ballad playing the trio was already known for: Yamamoto's right-hand lines unfolding over walking tempos, the rhythm section keeping a relaxed pocket. The recording, in the analogue clarity Three Blind Mice was famous for, captures every shade of touch on the keys. One of the more accessible entries in the Yamamoto Trio's TBM catalogue, and a useful first stop for newcomers to the label. Reissued in the Three Blind Mice Supreme Collection 1500.