Jazz /
Live Life
*Limited Edition* In this early 80s trio collaboration, Japanese pianist Kunihiko Sugano teams up with the legendary American drummer Jo Jones, resulting in a pleasingly traditional vibe. Sugano opts for the acoustic piano, and the album features laid-back tracks adorned with lyrical nuances. Kunihiko delivers soulful and warm solos, subtly propelled by Jo Jones' drumming expertise, while receiving solid backing from bassist Kunimitsu Inaba. The album's lengthier tracks showcase a delightful fus…
Black Orpheus: Date In Daté
*Limited Edition* Album released in 1977 by Japanese jazz pianist Kunihiko Sugano, who started playing in a trio with Isao Suzuki and George Otsuka in the early 1960s and recorded the classic album Blow Up with the aforementioned two and Takashi Mizuhashi on Three Blind Mice in 1973. Recorded live in Date City, Hokkaido in 1976 as a trio with Osamu Kawakami and Hiroshi Murakami. The air from the venue was recorded to give a realistic impression, and standard numbers such as Luiz Bomfa's A1, whic…
Live!
*Limited Edition* Immerse yourself in the charm of a Japanese piano trio session, elevated by the rhythmic enchantment of conga player Yohichi Ogawa. The trio, featuring Kunihiko Sugano on piano, Eizoh Honda on bass, and Teruhiko Takada on drums, takes on a sweet and dynamic quality. Ogawa's conga rhythms add a distinctive flair, injecting energy into Sugano's music—a blend of lyrical imagination, gentle swing, and freewheeling vitality. With extended tracks this session is a delightful explorat…
The Days Of Wine And Roses
*Limited Edition* Pianist Kunihiko Sugano shines in this early album, captured in a relaxed live setting at a small Japanese club. With a conga added to his usual trio, Sugano introduces each number with introspective lyricism before the trio kicks in, showcasing majestic and soulful solos. A classic in the 70s Japanese piano style, the ensemble includes Izao Suzuki on bass, Shinji Mori on drums, and Yoichi Ogawa on congas.
Smile
*Limited Edition* Hiroshi Hatsuyama's presence is invaluable in Japan's jazz vibraphone scene. His ability is evident in his achievements alone, as he has brilliantly colored the works of musicians such as Shoyuki Akutagawa, Koichi Matsukaze, Yoriyuki Harada, and Fumio Itabashi, all of whom have been difficult to dislodge from the scene. This is his first album. This is his first album, and it is a delightful work, sometimes bluesy, sometimes swingy, and filled with beautiful sounds. The "melanc…
Live: First Flight
Delight in Hiroshi Fukumura's live brilliance, where his unusual approach to the instrument shines. This quartet, featuring Hiroshi Tamura on piano, Tsutomu Okada on bass, and Shinji Mori on drums, delivers open, flowing tracks reminiscent of Japanese piano trios. Fukumura's solos, crafted like trumpet lines, boast a gritty yet lyrical power, this live session captures the essence of Fukumura's unique artistry and musical strides.
Love In Song
Helen Merrill's masterpiece, featuring arrangements by the genius Masahiko Sato, who adds new pop tunes to jazz standards. The album is composed of a very well-balanced selection of jazz standards, including Barbra Streisand's "Reminiscence," Paul McCartney's "Love in Song," and "I Remember Clifford," dedicated to Helen's golden partner, Clifford Brown.
Round Midnight
Recorded over two days at the Sound Inn Studio, Tokyo in 1983. Fumio Karashima’s Round Midnight is a solid straight ahead session featuring the esteemed pianist at his prime. Featuring Ikuo Sakurai on bass, Motohiko Hino on drums and guest jazz-fusion guitarist Larry Coryell on Side B of the LP. Post bop, cool jazz with a touch of Latin-fusion courtesy of Coryell. Perfect listening for anyone looking for a well-rounded session of classic jazz standards. Fumio Karashima, born March 9, 1948 in Oit…
Moonflower
A 1978 piece composed by pianist Fumio Karashima with legendary drummer Elvin Jones. The trio with bassist Andy MacLeod will feature original songs and standards, including the title track. This is the work that gave Karashima an opportunity to become active on the world stage.
Piranha
Fumio Kashima, a famous pianist loved by Elvin Jones and Otsuka George. This first album was recreated by the trio of Suzuki Ino, Jimmy Hops. It has also been the first Japanese work of Whynot label, and it has a strong presence. A variety of famous songs and performances, such as Piranha and melancholic stormy "Little Island" are overflowing with vibrants.
Moons Melt Milk Light
“Loss has been a constant (in my life), and I wanted to express a deep acceptance of this, but also a pervasive feeling that these kinds of sadnesses are what beauty is derived from, that it doesn't come from perfection. I find the idea of perfect beauty completely banal. Tension matters.” - Anenon
fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s suite but sacred)
Tip! A radiant manifesto of artistic freedom, fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s suite but sacred) brings together a composition in four movements written and performed by Jones on alto saxophone, long-time collaborator Gerald Cleaver on drums, and four Vancouver-based string musicians: violinists Jesse Zubot and Josh Zubot, cellist Peggy Lee and bassist James Meger; with original artwork by Stan Douglas and liner notes by poet Harmony Holiday. Commissioned by Western Front, an artist-run center for multi…
Post Koma
Berlin-based Swedish bassist and producer Petter Eldh returns with a new Koma Saxo album Post Koma, out on We Jazz Records, 10 November. The title Post Koma aptly describes the vibe of this one: The Koma Saxo sound continues its evolution, morphing into a holistic vision of jazz now and soon, where live instrumentation and repurposed sampling lose their boundaries. Over the course of its three iterations (self-titled debut in 2019, LIVE in 2020, Koma West in 2022) Koma Saxo has sounded at times …
A Child In The Wind
Fumio Karashima, who was active in Jazz Machine led by Elvin Jones, recorded this work in 1981 when he returned to Japan. The trio is led by George Otsuka, the drummer who gave Kashima his breakthrough, and Richard Davis, the famous bassist from Chicago, and their performance is the most attractive of all. Kashima's piano is vivid and fresh, like a fish moving in a large current.
Live In Masuda
Seikatsu Kōjyō Iinkai (Committee for the Improvement of Life) began its activities in the early 1970s, led by Kazutoki Umezu and Yoshiyuki Harada. Many musicians came and went and engaged in multifaceted activities, but one of the pillars was the so-called Life Improvement Committee (Matsugumi), centered on Koichi Shofaze. This work, recorded live in Masuda City, Shimane Prefecture, is the only work left by Matsugumi with the same members. The saxophone cuts like a knife into the solid trio's pe…
Busy Butterflies
*2023 stock* "To watch two butterflies in flight is to see a complex intertwining of zigs and zags, dips and weaves, as each—seemingly erratically--rides the turbulence its wings create to carry it along. Together they trace an unchoreographed but nevertheless coherent set of variations on the line as they move with, against and through each other’s paths.
The intricate pattern of two butterflies’ interwoven flight paths stands as a fitting analogue for the nuanced complexity of Busy Butterflie…
Transient
"Second album for Clairvoyance, a trio that sublimates improvisation through a blessed chemistry, delivering a perfectly balanced music where elements coming from different derivations and attitudes find grace and essentiality, freshness and solidity. Narrative spots and timbral consciousness inform this classy band and make this record unmissable!!
Clairvoyance's fundamental orientation--an orientation that, collectively and individually, represents a compositional stance toward improvisation. …
Wells
"Amirani Records, the label founded and run by Milanese soprano saxophonist Gianni Mimmo, ends its eighteen-year run with three final releases. The last of the three, a recording of the Sestetto Internazionale, was reviewed here earlier; preceding it a duet for Mimmo and Finnish soprano and sopranino saxophonist Harri Sjöström, and a solo recording by Milanese cellist Walter Prati.
Mimmo and Sjöström are frequent collaborators, whether in the Sestetto Internazionale or as duet partners, and on W…
Due Mutabili
[…] There is something slightly daunting about the notion of an improvising sextet. Do the casual math of instrumental permutations from six soloists to one sextet, adding in duos, trios, quartets and quintets, and you have something like 55 possible combinations. Literally anything might surface, but among the least likely is the superb music achieved here by Sestetto Internazionale, music that dances between the ideal poles of inevitability and unpredictability, inviting a sense of wonder. Lis…
Cadenza Del Crepuscolo
"The meaning of "cadenza del crepuscolo" ("dusk cadenza") can be interpreted in a variety of ways. The most profound is the one corresponding with the implicitly slow flux of thoughts and reflections that emerge as we sense the day fading away, possibly in a moment of somewhat regretful oscillation between an unknown tomorrow, what we have already experienced and now miss, and the unexpressed potential of what we long for, but have not yet achieved (and perhaps never will).
The sympathetic music…