Native Son Part 2

For the next installment for Native Son we'll take a quick look at their next 4 studio albums. I quite enjoyed 1983's Resort but I began to lose interest with the following 3 albums that we'll also discuss here.

For Resort, another new bassist is onboard in American Gregg Lee. All other bandmates return including trombonist Hiroshi Fukumura who first appeared on the excellent album, Shining. I have a couple of his solo albums to share at some point that have some memorable moments. I appreciate that we've made it to 1983 without falling into full-on smooth fusion. They're off to a strong start again with an opening track from Honda, "Bay Street Talkin'," followed up with a nice tune from newcomer Lee, "Nite of Limbo" and "Midnight Cruising" from Ohde. Only other track worthy of mention is the nice, funky tune "Under the Bahamian Moon". 

Overall, still a nice album with about half of the tracks being solid, in my opinion.

Next up, we have 1984's Gumbo, which is where they really start to lose me. Bassist Lee returns with regulars Ohde, Mine and Honda. A new drummer is here in American Cecil Monroe. This album is a little mundane, I'm afraid, with only 2 tracks being note-worthy. The solo piano title track from Honda is quite pleasant despite straying from their normal sound. Ohde tune "Evolution of the Nights" is the main takeaway from the album and worth checking in and of itself. 

Following Gumbo is 1985's Daybreak and there's little to write about, unfortunately. We have yet another bassist in Yasushi Yoneki and a new drummer in Tamaya Honda, son of keyboardist Takehiro. Tamaya utilizes an electronic drum kit on this album and it's certainly a forgettable sound of the 1980s. The opening tracks, "They're Just Bad" and "Impact Factor" are the only highlights here, with Mine offering his typical superb playing. Beyond that, I likely won't revisit this one.

In 1986, the group returned with another album in Veer, minus founding and long-time member Kohsuke Mine on saxophone. Yoneki and Honda return on bass and drums with staples Ohde and Honda. Sax duties are handled by Mikinori Fujiwara who plays quite nicely, although not as impressively as Mine. The second track "Tic-Tac-Toe" is the best offering in an otherwise underwhelming output. 

This iteration of the band will return with another studio album that will be covered in the next post. Fortunately for us, we'll also cover their 2 live albums that were released when they were playing much more interesting and energetic fusion. Until then...

CCPP 1975

I stumbled upon this French fusion album kind of randomly out of plain dumb luck. The only bad thing here is that it appears to be a one-off and I haven't found much else on the artists. This is more rock than jazz, to me. And certainly funky. All instrumental with 8 relatively quick hitting, energetic tracks.  

Quite a few artists were involved on the project but the main 4 who's surnames make up the group/album name are Andre Ceccarelli on drums, Marc Chantereau on keys, fantastic bassist Christian Padovan and guitarist Slim Pezin. 

Favorite tracks: "Death for the Spanish Lion" (Pezin) and "Prancai" (Ceccarelli) but frankly there isn't a skippable track here. 

Where ever their careers took them after this record, I'm not sure. But I'm certainly glad their paths crossed long enough to make this gem. Enjoy.

Native Son Part 1

Excited to share the next band with anyone who may be unfamiliar. They're relatively new to me but I instantly fell in love with some of their tracks. My favorite band is Herbie Hancock's Headhunters so my era of choice is 70s jazz-funk and fusion. I re-fell in love with jazz some 20 years ago when I dove into Miles and Herbie's electric years. 

Fortunately for me, a lot of musicians were influenced by the Headhunters. There's a ton of albums from 1974 and after that try to capture a similar sound. In the latter part of the 70s and into the 80s, a lot of that fusion starts to get a little too soft/smooth for me. Within that same time frame, Native Son released a few albums in a row that were absolutely fantastic. By the mid-80s they began to drift into the too smooth for me category but not without some nice tracks here and there. 

For the sake of completeness, I'll share the full catalog and anyone that stumbles across these next few posts can decide for themselves. For now, we'll focus on the first 3 studio albums - all of which are excellent, in my opinion. 

First, if we take a look at the group, we'll see some familiar names mentioned previously. We have Takehiro Honda on various keyboards, Kohsuke Mine on tenor and soprano saxophones, Motonobu Ohde on guitar, Tamio Kawabata on bass with Hiroshi Murakami on drums.

What I originally thought to be their second album, Savanna Hot-Line is actually the group's debut album, released in 1979. I love the way this album starts off and the first 3 tracks are my favorite. It tapers off a bit for me after that but a solid overall release, no doubt. 

Up next, and recorded the same year, is their second album, Native Son. Again, 3 tracks in particular stick out to me. The opening track "Bump Cruising" along with "Whispering Eyes" and "Super Safari" are doing the heavy lifting here. Honda, Ohde and Kawabata make the group, in my opinion. Mine and Murakami are also excellent players but the keys, guitar and bass shine the brightest on these early albums. 

Their 3rd album, 1982's Shining, is the group's strongest effort, in my opinion. All of the tunes here are rock solid. I especially enjoy the opening and title track, along with "Go For It" and the exceptional Ohde tune, "Red Eye Express." A new bassist is on board in Romy Kinoshita and trombonist Hiroshi Fukumura is also along for the ride. 

These 3 albums, along with a pair of live albums we'll visit later, are far and away the best material from the group. As I mentioned before, there are high points in each of the next albums but none parallel the strength and consistency of these first 3 releases. Enjoy!

Hidefumi Toki

I recently revisited an album from this saxophonist and was blown away by his playing. The albums listed here are a little more straight ahead jazz than what I typically listen to, but fantastic nonetheless. Each of the four could easily have been released years prior. 

I'm unsure when I first encountered Hidefumi Toki but it was likely after listening to Endless Way from the excellent guitarist Kazumi Watanabe. I may have a KW album or 2 to post that aren't readily available. Most of his massive catalog can be found with a little digging.

Toki was born in 1950 in the Hyogo prefecture in Japan, and passed in 2021. I'm most familiar with his earliest work starting with his debut in 1975 - Toki. 

Released on Three Blind Mice, Toki was joined by Nobuyoshi Ino on bass, Steve Jackson on drums and the previously mentioned Kazumi Watanabe on guitar. The opening track "Lullaby for the Girl" is my personal favorite. 

The second album is 1976's Sky View and features our friend Mikio Masuda on keys, Jackson again on the drums, with Yoshio Ikeda handling bass duties. 3 of the 5 tracks are originals from Toki, with the exceptions being a nice rendition of the Masuda tune "Let's Get Together" and the Gershwin standard, "I Love You, Porgy."

Next up is my favorite album of the group, City. Recorded in NYC in 1978, Toki is accompanied by 3 Americans: former Coltrane bandmates Reggie Workman on bass and Tommy Flanagan on piano, along with the well-traveled Joe Chambers on drums. Highlights here are the title track along with another Toki original, "Children, Children." The opening track, standard "Speak Low", is also very well done.

The last album of the group is 1979's You're Dancing. This is the first album where Toki is accompanied by another horn player in accomplished trombonist, Hiroshi Fukumura. Ino returns on bass, Aki Takase is on piano with Arihide Kurata on drums. While the peppy title track demonstrates the chemistry between Toki and Fukumura, personal favorites here are the Brazilian standard "Mañha de Carnaval" and original "Mr. K."

Hopefully you will find this stretch of albums as enjoyable as I have. 

Hiroshi Murakami and Dancing Sphinx (1978)

Thanks for checking out my first post. My goal for this page is to share some music I really enjoy. Some are less accessible due to licensing issues, or whatever else, so they're not always available on streaming services. Which unfortunately for me, is the primary way I access music these days. 

The album for today is basically the inspiration for the creation of the page. Hiroshi Murakami is a drummer originally from Tokyo who has worked with some of my favorite musicians from Japan. Namely, saxophonist Kosuke Mine and pianist Masahiko Satoh. But what really put me on to this album is when I learned he is a founding member of the amazing band Native Son.

In 1978, under the moniker of Hiroshi Murakami & Dancing Sphinx, he released a one-off album on Showboat Records named Dancing Sphinx. Joining him on the album are the aforementioned Kosuke Mine, multi-instrumentalist Takehiro Honda, (2 of the other founding members of Native Son), and excellent guitarist Kiyoshi Sugimoto. Also along for the ride is a personal favorite of mine in keyboardist Mikio Masuda. Bass duties are divided between Tsutomu Okada and Tamio Kawabata.

5 of the 6 tracks are originals from Murakami, with the exception being track 2: Maya - a superb track from bandmates Mine, Honda and Sugimoto. Mine is terrific here on the soprano sax. In my opinion, Mine, Sugimoto and Masuda do the bulk of the heavy lifting on this gem of a jazz-funk album. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

1. Dancing Sphinx

2. Maya

3. Phoebus

4. Neptune Lady

5. Baby, It's Trivial

6. Deabolo