Japanese Jazz from the early 70's - what next?

[felser]

So I really love the late 60's/early 70's Terumasa Hino stuff, and now have totally fallen for the Masabumi Kikuchi albums from the same period.   What related recordings would I really like that might be reasonably available and reasonably priced?

[HutchFan]

felser, have you heard this?

Attila Zoller/Masahiko Sato - A Path Through Haze (MPS, 1971)
Attila Zoller (g); Masahiko Sato (p); Yasuo Arakawa (b); Masahiko Ozu (d)

I recently discovered it. I was drawn in by Zoller, but hearing it made me want to look further into Sato's music.

It's readily available as a download.

[Stefan Wood]

Kosuke Mine.  And I ain't saying that because I have a bunch for sale.  He's an excellent sax player who started off with Masabumi Kikuchi.

[clifford_thornton]

I'd add Masahiko Sato's early stuff -- Palladium, Deformation, Transformation, Samadhi -- to the mix. Also, Masahiko Togashi's records are generally a sure bet and very diverse. For being 'out there' they also are quite lyrical and melodic. 

Mine is a good recommendation - have some excellent early sides. I'm not a huge fan of Sadao Watanabe; that said, the stuff he did with Charlie Mariano in particular is pretty heavy, and I have the feeling that he's made more records that I'd probably like that I have yet to hear.

Itaru Oki tends toward the freer realm but his amplified trumpet recordings (with small groups) are excellent. 

Another pianist, Takashi Kako, was mostly active in Paris but made some nice dates with Claude Bernard, Mototeru Takagi, Kent Carter and others.

I think most of the stuff in my listening pile is pretty abstract/free/rackety but if any of that fits the bill I can drop some names. Homefromtheforest has the more straight ahead/modal Japanese stuff on lock, as well as the free stuff.

Edited February 19, 2016 by clifford_thornton

[Homefromtheforest]

Kosuke Mine, Masabumi Kikuchi, Motohiko Hino, Terumasa Hino, George Otsuka, Takeru Muroaka, Shunzo Ohno, Akira Ishikawa, Takeshi Inomata, Hiroshi Suzuki, and Akira Miyazawa are all worth investigation along with Sato and Togashi.  Beware of recording dates though..with the exception of maybe Togashi anything between 1975-1985 or so might be suspect.  For example some of Masahiko Sato's album from this period are pretty bad fusion.

To start I'd highly recommend some early albums by Akira Miyazawa - "four units", "Bulltrout", and "Kiso".  Sato plays on all 3 and they are a good mix of modal, straight, and free sounds.

 

The heaviest Sadao Watanabe album is definitely the "s/t" 1972 album on Sony with Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar.  Can be had cheaply still I believe.

[felser]

Thanks to all, sound like great suggestions, and I will investigate.  Yes, my interest is definitely prior to 1975.  Fusion was mostaly a formulaic mess by then, was incredibly exciting at times 3-5 years earlier.

[corto maltese]

On 2/19/2016 at 5:48 PM, HutchFan said:

felser, have you heard this?

Attila Zoller/Masahiko Sato - A Path Through Haze (MPS, 1971)
Attila Zoller (g); Masahiko Sato (p); Yasuo Arakawa (b); Masahiko Ozu (d)

I recently discovered it. I was drawn in by Zoller, but hearing it made me want to look further into Sato's music.

It's readily available as a download.

If you like this, you should hear Duologue, a 1970 studio session. On side 1 they play standards - very attractively done, but the sidelong duo improvisation on side 2 is what makes this record really special.

[HutchFan]

2 hours ago, corto maltese said:

f you like this, you should hear Duologue, a 1970 studio session. On side 1 they play standards - very attractively done, but the sidelong duo improvisation on side 2 is what makes this record really special.

Thanks for the heads-up, corto.  I'll look into that one.  

[clifford_thornton]

I had a copy of that but unfortunately it had a short, ugly scratch and was therefore relegated to the "outbox." Haven't seen a reasonably priced copy since.

[HutchFan]

24 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

I had a copy of that but unfortunately it had a short, ugly scratch and was therefore relegated to the "outbox." Haven't seen a reasonably priced copy since.

Yep, it looks like it might be hard to find a copy of that LP. After poking around a bit, it looks like it regularly fetches prices north of $100.  ...Steep.

[clifford_thornton]

yeah, there's an 80s reissue that probably goes for around $50. And to think the copy that looked dead mint in a shop was $8 and turned out to be defective... oh well.

[David Ayers]

Any liking for Isao Suzuki? Makes for a pleasant dabble on youtube... 

[clifford_thornton]

I am more aware of him as a sideman and am not really too familiar with his leader dates (Blow Up I've seen around a few times - seems to be desired by the fonk scenesters). He's got a nice sound on his instrument, though.

[David Ayers]

There's several of his LPs on youtube. Fonk scenesters? there is some such actual 'scene'? 

[clifford_thornton]

well I was referring to DJ types.

[mjazzg]

Thought I'd bump this thread as I've been really enjoying Sadao Watanabe's 'Paysage' since it arrived a few weeks ago and I don't see it mentioned above.

Peacock, Kikuchi, Togashi, Murakami, dream team.

Looks like I need to check out the s/t on Sony and the Mariano collaborations next.

Also been enjoying the two 'Cantos' albums, one with Togashi the other with Sato by Toshiyuki Miyama's New Herd. Very good, freer, big band.

 

 

[SMB1968]

I don't know if the criteria is they have to be Japanese artists, but Mal Waldron made some fantastic albums in Japan in the early '70s (often, though, with Japanese artists).

[Gheorghe]

I think I remember having heard about Sadao Watanabe, but I am not sure in which context. Didn´t he play a very bird like altosaxophone on some Galaxy records with some US musicians. I don´t know what has happened to Galaxy, there was a whole bunch of recordings made in Japan.

But I think, Watanabe made some fusion albums also, for money. And I think some Europeans knew him especially for that fusion stuff.......

I saw Terumaso Hino live with Dave Liebman, can you imagine that ?

About the question about pre 1975 japanese jazz.... hard to say, wasn´t the early 70´s a quite rough period for jazz with many guys having difficulties to get jobs and a lot of joints closed?
But I think I remember there was a japanese guy dont remember his name, a quite long and not pronouncable name, who had a big band called "New Herd" and who recorded some tracks with US Stars in the early 70´s. He can be heard on an ill fated Mingus in Japan album from around 1971, and on a Monk album also from that period which was quite unhappy for both Monk and Mingus.....

[ghost of miles]

You might want to check out this compilation from the Spiritual Jazz series:

Spiritual Jazz V. 8: Japan

 

Edited June 25, 2019 by ghost of miles

[clifford_thornton]

Sadao Watanabe's records from the '60s and '70s are fabulous. I don't think there's a real clinker in the bunch, at least not until you get to the smoother fusion sounds of the late '70s/early '80s (not my cuppa).

[felser]

9 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

Sadao Watanabe's records from the '60s and '70s are fabulous. I don't think there's a real clinker in the bunch, at least not until you get to the smoother fusion sounds of the late '70s/early '80s (not my cuppa).

I'm not sold on the bossa nova titles he did in the 60's, but the rest (the ones I've heard) are pretty fabulous.  Wish they were more readily available, and less expensive.  So much music, so little time and money...

Edited June 27, 2019 by felser

[clifford_thornton]

I actually like those for what it's worth. Can't explain it, but I do.

[Rooster_Ties]

On ‎6‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 1:47 PM, ghost of miles said:

You might want to check out this compilation from the Spiritual Jazz series:

Spiritual Jazz V. 8: Japan

 

There's actually a 2CD set of this particular volume (8) -- which has two separate LP issues (part 1, and part 2).  I think(?) the LP issues are only available separately (individually), but the CD issue is only available as a 2CD set.  Highly recommended.

 

 

[ghost of miles]

3 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said:

There's actually a 2CD set of this particular volume (8) -- which has two separate LP issues (part 1, and part 2).  I think(?) the LP issues are only available separately (individually), but the CD issue is only available as a 2CD set.  Highly recommended.

 

 

That's what I have--the 2-CD set.  And yes, it's excellent!

[Rooster_Ties]

Good article I just stumbled on...

https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/loves-obi