While Japan's interest in jazz is well documented, it's taken decades for the country's homegrown jazz to achieve interest from outside the rare groove scene. In the 2000s, Japan began to reevaluate its jazz history, referring to the music as "WaJazz" and establishing it as its own specific genre - connected to US jazz traditions but also existing on its own. Yusuke Ogawa is perhaps the country's foremost expert on WeJazz, he's been running Tokyo's collector centric Universounds store since 2001, and he's also supervised dozens of reissues and compilations, as well as lending his expertise to the WaJazz Disc Guide and the Independent Black Jazz of America books. Ogawa notes that on this selection of tracks, there's "something uniquely Japanese flowing through that creates a kind of synergy." On the surface, the modern jazz flow of Takeo Moriyama's 'Watarase' might sound familiar, but look a little closer - those flutes! - and its Japanese qualities rise high above. Elsewhere, Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys' 'Sakura Sakura' is a cinematic Blaxploitation-style groover, but hits in the most unexpected places, while Soul Media's 'Breeze' augments loose, lite funk with Japanese percussion in the most subtle way. From beginning to end, this is sublimely high quality material that shines a bright light on a scene that's well deserving of closer attention.. Incredible fusion for the open minded music lover..No bounderies! Yusuke Ogawa selects a diverse set of Japanese jazz deep cuts from the Nippon Columbia vaults, with WaJazz classics from Jiro Inagaki, Minoru Muraoka, Hiroshi Suzuki and others. All Giants in Japanese Fusion..Incredible! Ripped to Hi-Res for the very best possible audio quality of a wonderful album!
AMM
The Tasters!
Tracks
01. Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys - Sakura Sakura (7:36)
02. Minoru Muraoka with New Jazz Players - Muraiki (3:56)
03. Count Buffalo & The Jazz Rock Band - Mago-Uta (3:45)
04. Kiyoshi Sugimoto Quartet - D-51 (6:09)
05. Toshiyuki Miyama & The New Herd - Adult's Day (9:30)
06. Soul Media - Breeze (4:35)
07. George Otsuka - Sea View (5:07)
08. Hozan Yamamoto, Masahiko Togashi, Yosuke Yamashita - Breath Prologue (5:13)
09. Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - Do It! (7:30)
10. Hiroshi Suzuki - Romance (5:57)
11. Masahiko Sato - Tochi Mo Kurumi Mo Fukiotose (3:05)
12. Masahiko Togashi - Fourth Expression (6:43)
13. Takeshi Inomata & Sound Ltd. - Mustache (Live) (9:09)
14. Takeo Moriyama - Watarase (6:40)
17 comments:
another interesting comp AMM yes please
Reb
Exactly up my alley. Thanks for review, P.
wow, nice compilation, thanks very much!
thank you so much for a jazz episode. Thank you AMM.
Thanks AMM for expanding my tastes and experiences with this Jazz series.
BIg THKS amm !
Great write up and share!
Cheers!
Bill(Ethel`s mate)
Japanese gems and there are so many more. The contribution to jazz from the land of the rising sun is sadly often overlooked. Excellent content here. Thankyou
Japanese gems and there are so many more. The contribution to jazz from the land of the rising sun is sadly often overlooked. Excellent content here. Thankyou
Thanks for this review.
/Jumpstart
Cheers, AMM, thanks for this comp..
Awesome... thanks AMM
BigD
thank you so much for the review
Nice, I would listen to this,thank you
Thanks for the review AMM, appreciated
Loving this compilation. Smooth tunes as well as a bit of funk on others. Thanks AMM!!!
Very interesting,thanks
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