Japanese Jazz Revisited

[Late]

30 Japanese Jazz titles reissued. Some are fairly rare. I believe it's the digital debut of Yosuke Yamashita's "A Figure Of"—both Vol.s 1 & 2.

[Rabshakeh]

I know Poo Sun and SilverWorld. Are any others recommended?

[mhatta]

33 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

I know Poo Sun and SilverWorld. Are any others recommended?

Masahiko Sato's Palladium is a piano trio masterpiece.  It is also a rare occasion Masahiko Togashi could play a full drum set (he become paraplegic soon after).

Yousuke Yamashita's Montreux Afterglow and Hot Menu are also his career-defining works.

Kazunori Takeda might be little known outside Japan, but his Gentle November is a deep ballad album.  Yamashita played the piano.

[Rabshakeh]

Thank you! 

I shall check those out.

[Dub Modal]

Thanks for the heads up!

[clifford_thornton]

9 hours ago, mhatta said:

Masahiko Sato's Palladium is a piano trio masterpiece.  It is also a rare occasion Masahiko Togashi could play a full drum set (he become paraplegic soon after).

Yousuke Yamashita's Montreux Afterglow and Hot Menu are also his career-defining works.

Kazunori Takeda might be little known outside Japan, but his Gentle November is a deep ballad album.  Yamashita played the piano.

yeah, I have all of those on LP. Stellar albums. 

The Kikuchis are pretty happening throughout -- Re:Confirmation is my pick of the litter.

You Wanna Rain is also a very strong LP with Shigeharu Mukai on trombone in excellent form.

[Late]

23 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Are any others recommended?

The Yamashitas are wild in the best of ways. I don't know Rhapsody, however. I wish they would have included Frozen Days or Up To Date instead. 

[Rabshakeh]

Are the Yamashitas free? I know and love his trio stuff, especially with Sakata.

[Niko]

I'll definitely be getting the Kikuchi/Evans and the Takeru Muraoka album (w Kikuchi), probably also Palladium (all three can be sampled on youtube). The other Kikuchis I have and like a lot (w Silver World being the standout, but they're all great), also second the recommenation for Gentle November "a deep ballad album" describes it very well

[Rabshakeh]

I often wonder who listens to Sadao Watanabe's music still. He used to be the first name who was mentioned for Japanese jazz. I am sure that there are many gems in his back catalogue, but I never see recommendations. These days, I see more Masahiko Takayanagi mentioned than Sadao Watanabe.

[Harbour]

2 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

I often wonder who listens to Sadao Watanabe's music still. He used to be the first name who was mentioned for Japanese jazz. I am sure that there are many gems in his back catalogue, but I never see recommendations. These days, I see more Masahiko Takayanagi mentioned than Sadao Watanabe.

There are some great albums in his catalogue, particularly Paysages,  the self titled one from 72 and Open Road from 73.

He did revert back to more trad material soon after sadly which is why maybe he doesn’t get the current attention that others are.

[Rabshakeh]

I like Jazz & Bossa and Round Trip, as well as his record with Kikuchi called Collaboration. I know Paysages too but will check out the others that you kindly mentioned.

He's on El Chico by Chico Hamilton, too. That's a good record and it's interesting that he's on it.

[Late]

6 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Are the Yamashitas free?

Oh yes. Takeo Moriyama is replaced by Shota Koyama however.

Montreux Afterglow

Hot Menu

Vol. 2 of "A Figure Of" used to be up on YouTube but I can't find it. It features percussion by none other than "Pecker."

[clifford_thornton]

3 hours ago, Harbour said:

There are some great albums in his catalogue, particularly Paysages,  the self titled one from 72 and Open Road from 73.

He did revert back to more trad material soon after sadly which is why maybe he doesn’t get the current attention that others are.

Yeah, those I would recommend -- also Collaboration (w/ Kikuchi), Live at the Junk, Dedicated to Charlie Parker, Round Trip, and his work with Charlie Mariano.

[mjazzg]

Fan of 'Paysages' here too.  I don't know 'Open Road' so will rectify that

[mhatta]

On 2022/3/15 at 6:38 PM, Rabshakeh said:

I often wonder who listens to Sadao Watanabe's music still. He used to be the first name who was mentioned for Japanese jazz. I am sure that there are many gems in his back catalogue, but I never see recommendations. These days, I see more Masahiko Takayanagi mentioned than Sadao Watanabe.

Sadao Watanabe has been very popular in Japan and a kind of "Boss Man" in the Japanese Jazz world (he was also the one who introduced the Berklee Method) , but even he tackled Fusion, Bossa Nova, African and other "world music", his style remains basically bop and did not change much from the orthodoxy (unlike Masahiko Togashi or Masayuki Takayanagi who went free).
Perhaps his most adventurous work is Round Trip (with Chick Corea, Miroslav Vitouš, Jack DeJohnette), but not much else; some 1969 quartet stuff (e.g. Live at the Junk with Yoshiaki Masuo) are not bad, but his brother drummer Fumio Watanabe is nowhere near as good. At Montreux Jazz Festival is also superb but a bit dated.  On a solo basis rather than an album basis, Watanabe's solo on Logical Mystery in Terumasa Hino Live In Concert, a commemorative concert live recording when Hino went to the US, is tremendous. I think that is the best of Watanabe. Recordings with The Great Jazz Trio (Hank Jones, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams) was also okay.
I think that his more recent, withering works are more desirable. Watanabe is well over 80 years old, but not too bad.  I think Plays Bach usually doesn't work so well for most of jazzmen, but Watanabe's rendition is pretty good.  So many Watanabe's stuff are on Spotify, so you can try.

 

[Teasing the Korean]

Any 1960s Yakuza soundtracks?

[romualdo]

I'm always on the lookout for Kaoru Abe's work

I think the last official release of his was on the Lithuanian "No Business" label in 2018

http://nobusinessrecords.com/arirang-fantasy.html

[mhatta]

7 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Any 1960s Yakuza soundtracks?

Terumasa Hino wrote film music for 1970's film "Hakuchu No Shugeki" (The raid in daylight)

 

For those of you who are interested in 1960s Japanese popular music (and Jazz/R&B), this might be a very interesting oddity.  It's officially "unissued", but it WAS actually issued in Japan.

 

[Late]

14 hours ago, romualdo said:

I'm always on the lookout for Kaoru Abe's work.

I think the last official release of his was on the Lithuanian "No Business" label.

I think you're right. I have that disc but haven't spun it enough. Do you have Station '70 and Live At Jazzbed? Both are Masayuki Takayanagi albums, but Abe's on both. Some of Abe's most focused work in my opinion.

[clifford_thornton]

I have those. Very heavy. The duo has the same music on both sides (the 12" reissue), albeit in mono and stereo. They probably could have done just fine issuing it as a single sided 12" mono recording.

[Rabshakeh]

I was obsessed with Kaoru Abe in my late teens, about the time I was getting into jazz. Since selling my CDs I haven't listened to him so much, but it's cool to hear about these.

[Rooster_Ties]

14 hours ago, mhatta said:

For those of you who are interested in 1960s Japanese popular music (and Jazz/R&B), this might be a very interesting oddity.  It's officially "unissued", but it WAS actually issued in Japan.

 

Ok, so that’s kinda crazy, and kinda amazing too!  Check out all the details in the description of that YouTube video — from Discogs, and the Atlantic discography…

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0WNp9ZZoaBs

On my phone, or I’d cut-n-paste it all over here. What an interesting idea for a concept record — and by none other than King Curtis. That’s wild!

 

[romualdo]

9 hours ago, Late said:

I think you're right. I have that disc but haven't spun it enough. Do you have Station '70 and Live At Jazzbed? Both are Masayuki Takayanagi albums, but Abe's on both. Some of Abe's most focused work in my opinion.

I wonder if the Station 70 release (very short - only 23mins) is the same as the DIW CD release (that I have) called "Kaitaiteki Kohkan (Deconstructed Exchange)" - its a duo (Takayanagi/Abe) recorded in Japan (June 28, 1970) - was originally released on the Japanese Sound Creators label (LP) - I'd say they are different recordings

[Late]

4 hours ago, romualdo said:

I wonder if the Station 70 release (very short - only 23mins) is the same as the DIW CD release (that I have) called "Kaitaiteki Kohkan (Deconstructed Exchange)" - its a duo (Takayanagi/Abe) recorded in Japan (June 28, 1970) - was originally released on the Japanese Sound Creators label (LP) - I'd say they are different recordings.

I checked the credits for Station '70, and it's also a 23 minute disc. First track is "Thursday/Gradually Projection" (18:36); second track is "Jha/Mass Projection" (4:48). Recording date is June 18, 1970 (track 1), and "May or June" 1970 (track 2).