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