Wamono Groove - Kiyoshi Yamaya, Toshiko Yonekawa, Kifu Mitsuhashi - Wamono Groove Shakuhachi & Koto Jazz Funk '76 (2022) 180g - Vinyl - Japanese Fusion (FLAC)

Burned rare groove wildcards for dedicated diggers here.  The label in japan 180g released some incredible albums.  This set of Japanese funk evokes the fragrance of a Tokyo izakaya in the mid 1970s.
The term "wamono" is used to refer to vintage Japanese records that sizzle with lounge type charm - specifically disco, funk and jazz from the 1970s and '80s. This latest collection of wamono from the 180g label highlights the work of arranger Kiyoshi Yamaya, who works here with koto player (A Koto is a Japanese plucked half-tube zither instrument) Toshiko Yonekawa and shakuhachi player (is a Japanese end-blown bamboo flute) Kifu Mitsuhashi to formulate a groove that sits between traditional music and decadent Blaxploitation groove. These are the kind of sounds you'd expect to bubble up from the celluloid in a midnight movie double-bill, the themes are eerily familiar, but the instrumental selections give each riff a spark of fresh life. Needless to say, sections of these tracks feel as if they've been tailor-made for sampling or creative mixing. Good stuff.

AMM

                                                                       The Tasters!

    Tracks & Credits

    A1 Nanbu Ushioi-Uta (feat. Kifu Mitsuhashi)
    A2 Isohama Bon-Uta (feat. Toshiko Yonekawa)
    A3 Hohai-Bushi (feat. Kifu Mitsuhashi)
    A4  Otemoyan (feat. Toshiko Yonekawa)
    A5 Aizu Bandaisan (feat. Kifu Mitsuhashi)
    B1 Saitaro-Bushi (feat. Toshiko Yonekawa)
    B2 Soma Nagareyama (feat. Kifu Mitsuhashi)
    B3 Yagi-Bushi (feat. Toshiko Yonekawa)
    B4 Asadoya Yunta (feat. Kifu Mitsuhashi)
    B5 Konpira Fune Fune (feat. Toshiko Yonekawa)

    Arranged By – Kiyoshi Yamaya
    Artwork – Nicolas Kerembellec
    Bass – Kimio Koizumi (tracks: A1 to A3, A5, B1, B2, B4), Kunimitsu Inaba (tracks: A4, B3, B5)
    Drums – Kazuyoshi Okayama
    Executive Producer – Greg Gouty, Maxime Brottes
    Guitar – Kiyoshi Sugimoto (tracks: A2 to B5), Mitsuo Murakami (tracks: A1)
    Koto – Toshiko Yonekawa
    Lacquer Cut By – JSA
    Mastered By – Jukka Sarapää
    Percussion – Hiroo Umezawa (tracks: A5), Osamu Nakajima (tracks: A4)
    Piano – Hiromu Hisatomi (tracks: A2, B1), Keisuke Egusa (tracks: A3, A5, B2, B4), Naoya Matsuoka   (tracks: A1)
    Shakuhachi – Kifu Mitsuhashi
    Tenor Saxophone – Jake Concepcion (tracks: B3, B5)
    Trombone – Tadataka Nakazawa (tracks: B3, B5), Yoshitsugu Nishimura (tracks: B3, B5)
    Trumpet – Takehisa Suzuki (tracks: B3, B5), Tetsuo Fushimi (tracks: B3, B5)
    Vibraphone – Isao Kanayama (tracks: A1, A3 to A5, B2 to B5), Ryusei Matsuzaki (tracks: A2, B1)