Jazz /
Blues World
*2026 stock* An earlier Sunao Wada outing on Three Blind Mice, recorded with both quartet and quintet formations across the programme, and built (as the title suggests) around the blues. But this is blues in the broader, more searching sense the seventies were beginning to articulate: harmonic frames borrowed from soul and modal jazz alongside the standard 12-bar architecture, and an improvising attitude that's more interested in development than display.
Wada's guitar carries the writing with t…
Funky Stuff
*2026 much needed repress!!* "Written and arranged by Hiromasa Suzuki, and originally released in 1975 on Nippon Columbia, this album is incredible, and truly well-named - funky stuff, indeed! Fat bass, a great variety of guitar sounds, horns and organ, and crisp drums: this is an instant favorite! From the end of the 1960s, saxophonist Jiro Inagaki led groups such as The Soul Mates, and His Black Rhythm Machine, blasting down the jazz rock road before forming Soul Media in 1969. The album Funky…
All Blues
"Bassist Ron Carter had long been Creed Taylor’s first-choice bassist on record dates stretching as far back to the classic Gil Evans recording Out of the Cool in 1960. Carter was the first bass choice for many Creed Taylor productions throughout the 1960s for the Impulse, Verve, MGM and A&M/CTI labels, even while the bassist was recording and touring as part of the Miles Davis Quintet. And it was Ron Carter’s dulcet tones and swinging accompaniment on the double bass that drove nearly every CTI…
Live!
*2026 stock* A live document from one of the towering figures in Japanese jazz history. By the early seventies Terumasa Hino had established himself as Japan's most internationally fluent trumpeter, a player whose vocabulary moved easily between Lee Morgan-era hard bop, Miles-influenced modal abstraction, and the harder edges of Coltrane-era extended playing. Live! catches his quintet in concert, working through original material at the high temperature his groups were known for: long forms, fie…
Montreux Cyclone
*2026 stock* A double-set capturing Bingo Miki's Inner Galaxy Orchestra in live performance at Montreux, and one of the more ambitious large-ensemble documents in the entire Three Blind Mice catalogue. Miki spent his career writing for big bands at the edge of mainstream Japanese jazz, blending orchestral architecture with modal, spiritual and free-leaning impulses, and the Inner Galaxy Orchestra was his most expansive vehicle. The Montreux performance shows the ensemble at full stretch: long-fo…
Yellow Carcass In The Blue
*2026 stock* Legendary Japanese jazz vocalist Kimiko Kasai, one of the most innovative singers of the 1970s, joins forces with the fiery Kosuke Mine Quartet on the newly reissued Yellow Carcass in the Blue, originally released in 1971 on the esteemed Three Blind Mice (TBM) label. This rare leader album captures Kasai at her peak, blending her husky, soulful voice with avant-garde improvisation and fusion grooves, featuring standout tracks like the title song—Masabumi Kikuchi's composition elevat…
Q
*2026 stock* Bassist Hideto Kanai was one of the most ambitious composer-bandleaders to emerge from the Japanese jazz scene of the early seventies, a writer of long-form pieces that integrated free playing with chamber-jazz architecture, and a player with the patience to leave space where lesser arrangers would clutter. Q, only the sixth release on Three Blind Mice, is one of his most uncompromising early statements: extended group playing built around Kanai's slow, structural bass lines, with t…
Toki
*2026 stock* Hidefumi Toki's 1975 album Toki offers a deeply personal journey into the realms of jazz, showcasing his expressive prowess on alto and soprano saxophones. Backed by a stellar quartet including Kazumi Watanabe on guitar, Nobuyoshi Ino on bass, and Steve Jackson on drums, Toki creates a stunning sonic landscape filled with gentle, raspy tones. The album's ambiance is laidback and mellow, yet infused with a profound sense of spiritual depth reminiscent of Coltrane's work.
Original com…
Mine
The very first record released on Three Blind Mice, a debut for both label and bandleader. Recorded in Tokyo in August 1970, Mine announces the saxophonist Kosuke Mine and sets out, in advance, the editorial stance the label would hold for the next two decades: serious post-bop with European clarity, Coltrane-era heat, and a particularly Japanese sense of restraint that lets the most intense solos hold their shape. Mine's quintet pairs his alto and soprano with trombone, the great Hideo Ichikawa…
High Contrast
This 1971 album by the Hungarian jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó is a smooth jazz-fusion record blending psychedelic jazz, pop, and Latin influences. It includes one of Szabó’s best-known tracks, "Breezin’", later famously reworked by George Benson. The album is marked by melodic guitar lines, cinematic arrangements, and a polished, atmospheric sound typical of early-70s jazz fusion. Szabo also delivers a few stellar originals, showcasing his signature fusion of Hungarian folk music, jazz, psychedeli…
African Rock
This album is a masterpiece in which the three core pillars of Akira Ishikawa’s musical vision—jazz, rock, and African music—are fused in a sublime and thrilling balance. One arresting track follows another: the solemn and majestic “Prayer”, evoking the eternal land; the clear yet subtly psychedelic “Dawn”; the serene and beautiful “Love”; and the highly dynamic, explosive “Jumbo”. The brilliance of Hirmasa Suzuki’s arrangements deserves special mention—simple yet profoundly deep, they give vivi…
Zawinul
It would not be incorrect to claim that Zawinul was the first Weather Report album with regard to both its concept and sound since all protagonists are already present: Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter and Miroslav Vitouš. This album confirms that Zawinul was the primary creative generator of Weather Report, the connecting link between the band and Miles Davis’s keyboard-laden experiments on "In A Silent Way"; indeed, the composition in its complex orchestral form as composed by Zawinul is newly arran…
Iapetus
Wewantsounds continues its reissue program of Bob Shad's cult jazz label, Mainstream Records, with Hadley Caliman's superb 1972 album, Iapetus. Recorded in LA and featuring a heavyweight lineup of West Coast players including Todd Cochran, Woody “Sonship” Theus, Luis Gasca, and Victor Pantoja, the majority of the album was composed by Todd Cochran (aka Bayeté) soon after he had composed Bobby Hutcherson's Blue Note classic, Head On. A true hidden treasure, it is reissued here on vinyl for the fi…
East Two + 7
Eeast Two + 7 comprises previously unreleased tracks from one of Sun Ra's most productive periods: 1972–73. Those two hectic years saw Sun Ra recording numerous albums, staging concerts, teaching at Berkeley, acting in and composing the score for a full-length movie, embarking on a multi-album (though ill-fated) major label deal, and touring the U.S. and Europe. The title track, "East Two," is one of two pieces on this album originating at a two-day October 1972 session at Chicago's Streetervill…
Cosmos Nucleus
On Cosmos Nucleus, Carlos Garnett turns his cosmic post‑Coltrane fire into a large‑ensemble manifesto: six expansive tracks where Pharoah‑like spiritual cries, funk currents and celestial brass fanfares coalesce around the incandescent “Mystery Of Ages.”
Hidden Fire
On Hidden Fire, Sun Ra turns the late‑’80s Arkestra into a digital seance, using Yamaha DX7 shards, strings and haunted vocals to swap cosmic swing for dissonant ritual, opening one last, ominously glowing portal in his Saturnian saga.
Balladyna
On Balladyna, Tomasz Stanko leads Tomasz Szukalski, Dave Holland and Edward Vesala through seven originals that weld lyrical, Slavic melancholy to volcanic free‑jazz undercurrents, forging a 1970s European classic that still feels startlingly alive.
After The Rain
At a time when the Japanese jazz scene was rapidly maturing and one accomplished musician after another was emerging, another saxophonist worthy of new attention joined the scene: Masafumi Yamaguchi. This work, his memorable first album as a leader, now makes its long-awaited first appearance as part of the seventh installment of "Spin This Now!"
Primrose
A refined jazz work by Hiromasa Suzuki. Featuring Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and the accomplished Steve Jackson on drums, this album unfolds through interplay that is tightly knit yet relaxed throughout, and now makes its long-awaited first appearance as part of the seventh installment of "Spin This Now!"
Hush-A-Bye
Following the great response to the previous release "Flash Up," a live recording from Shinjuku Pit Inn in March 1977, this new work composed by Takeo Moriyama was recorded about a year later. The second release left by the Takeo Moriyama Group on Teichiku now finally makes its debut as part of the seventh installment of "Spin This Now!"