Caldera

What's up everyone? It's been a busy few days but I have a lot of great music to share. Today we're going to shift away from Japan for a few and take a look at NY-based jazz-funk/fusion group, Caldera. We'll take a look at their 4 album run thru the second half of the 1970s. 

The group hailed from different parts of Latin America, as well as the US. I'll cover the changes to personnel as we go, as usual. Often times heavy on guitar and keys, we also have great sax play along with plenty of percussion. A favorite of mine. An obvious Latin-influence, but not what I would describe as Latin-jazz, by any means. 

First up for today we have the self-titled, Caldera from 1976. From the group's onset, we have Argentinian pianist, Eduardo del Barro, US-born saxophonist, Steve Tavaglione, Costa Rican guitarist, Jorge Strunz, US-born bassist, Dean Cortez, and Cuban drummer, Carlos Vega. We also have Brazilian trombonist, Raul de Souza, Brazilian percussionist, Roberto da Silva, and an additional percussionist in Mike Azevedo. 

This album jumps right out of the gate, for me. I instantly fell in love with this group. It's probably unnecessary for me to highlight my favorites here or we'll never finish up. One note is that on "Coastin'" and "Exaltation" (both excellent) we have some non-lyrical vocals from Carolyn Davis. I was able to pull them out on "Coastin'" but unable to on "Exaltation." I find them somewhat annoying but del Barrio on synthesizer more than makes up for it. Not a skippable track to be found on this one. Classic material. 

Next up, we have my introduction to the group, in 1977's Sky Islands. The only album I was able to find on streaming. The same group returns and joining them are a sleuth of guest appearances that I won't list here to save time and space. My favorites here are "Pegasus" and "Carnavalito," but I also dig this one from start to finish. "Ancient Source" has some vocals and I've included an instrumental, as well. The intro to "Triste" is about as good as it gets, in my opinion. If it hasn't been sampled heavily, I'd be surprised. 

The following year in 1978, the group released it's third album, Time And Chance. The group welcomes American bassist, Gregg Lee, who we may remember from the latter Native Son albums we covered previously. We also have drummer, Alex Acuña, and percussionist, Hector Andrade. 

One thing to note here is the I-Ching hexagram on the album cover. I have novice level knowledge of the book of changes but it's a useful tool for anyone focused on improving their present and seeking guidance for the future. The hexagram here is for "cauldron" suggesting cooking in a literal and spiritual sense. Aside from the obvious: Caldera translating to Cauldron in English, this band was certainly cooking. 

This album is a touch softer, in my opinion, and features more acoustic guitar than we've previously heard. "Shanti" is a very nice track that does feature some vocals - and I've again included an instrumental. 

The final installment for us is 1979's Dreamer. The same group from Time And Chance returns with the addition of well-traveled percussionist, Luis Conte. Again, we have quite a few guests that I won't include here. This is the album I return to the least but there are still some gems to be heard. The soprano sax from Tavaglione on "Dreamchild" is constantly stuck in my head. Other nice tunes here are "Rain Forest" and the closing "Himalaya." 

The only real disappointment I have with the group is that their run only lasted these 4 albums. I haven't dug into the other projects the members pursued, aside from a quick look into Hiroshima, which original bassist Dean Cortez, was a part of. 

Check back throughout the week - I have a few other posts on deck that are some of my favorites. 

Also, please let me know if anyone is having issues with the links. Krakenfiles is being a bit cantankerous so I'm considering shifting to something different.

Isao Suzuki Part 6

This will be a slightly longer post because I'd like to wrap up our look into Isao Suzuki. We have a few from the 80s to look at and 1 from the 2000s. I'm going to keep it short and sweet for each release so we can keep it moving. 

First up we have 1980's Bass Club, which is essentially a duo bass album with Red Mitchell. There is a piano presence on a couple of the tracks from Tsuyoshi Yamamoto. All standards here with my favorite being a nice rendition of "Yesterdays". 

Another duo album is next for us, this time featuring pianist, Kunihiko Sugano. Sincerely Yours is also comprised of mostly standards. A relatively calm vibe throughout on this one and I find Sugano to be an excellent pianist. Favorites for me are "The Midnight Sun Will Never Set" and the closing tune, "Goodbye."

Next up for us we have Four Wings, also from 1980. Here we have the well traveled Hidehiko Matsumoto on saxophone and flute, Sugano again joins on piano and George Otsuka on drums. Mostly all standards here again, with the opening "Speak Low" as a personal favorite; a tune I always enjoy. The closing, title track from Otsuka is another highlight here.

We are into 1981 for our next release, Self-Portrait. A fully solo album featuring Isao on a variety of instruments plus adding some non-lyrical vocals. Definitely a bit of meandering here and possibly not an album for everyone. We do have some originals which is outside of the norm for this time period. I enjoyed "Loving Lash" and "Dialogue In My Self".

Also in 1981, Isao released Samba Club and while it is all covers/standards, at least we have some tempo to lively things up a bit. On keys we have both Ichiro Doi and Yamamoto, along with guitarist Takayuki Kato. On drums and harmonica we have American Donald Bailey and adding some percussion, we have Francis Mann. Nice version of "Tenderly" here, along with a nearly solo rendition of "Greensleeves" from Isao. 

Next up, we have another 1981 release in Three Cushion. Here Isao is joined by guitarist, Yoshiaki Miyanoue, pianist Doi, saxophonist Akira Miyazawa, trombonist Tadanori Konakawa and drummer Motohiko Hino. I'll have a post for Motohiko soon. Pretty straight forward album of mostly covers with the exception being the title track. Favorite for me is the Teddy Edwards tune, "Together Again."

The last album from the 1980s I have is 1986's Approach. Quartet here with the fantastic pianist Hideo Ichikawa, Akira Shiomoto on guitar and Masahiko Togashi on drums and percussion. All originals from within the group with personal favorites being the Ichikawa tune "Otari" and Isao tune "Mysterious." Mostly straight forward album here to close out the decade. 

We travel all the way to 2003 for our next, and final, release, Blow Up 2. My assumption is this must have been recorded over various sessions because we have quite a few players lending support. On keys we have Sugano, Yamamoto and Josei Sato. On drums we have Otsuka, Makoto Rikitake and Takayuki Koizumi and also along for the ride is guitarist, Takeshi Nagayama. A straight-ahead album here of mostly covers/standards again, but overall a pleasant album for the tail-end of a legendary career. I enjoyed the nice rendition of "What A Wonderful World."

Whew. So that's everything I have from legendary bassist, Isao Suzuki. If you're here I hope you've found at least a few albums to enjoy. 

Isao Suzuki Part 5

Good afternoon. Back again today to continue our look at Isao Suzuki's catalog. We're nearing the end of what I have - so I'm going to try to wrap up over the next couple of days. 

First for today we have a nice little album, albeit with limited information, in 1979's PCM vs Direct: Summertime. The reason for the title is due to one side being mastered by PCM and the other by Direct Cutting. This one was released as the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio with Isao Suzuki. While I'm not 100% certain, I believe Shinji Mori is handling the drums here, with Yamamoto on piano and Isao on bass. Either way, 3 nice renditions of some standards here with the highlight being the title track, Summertime, from the legend George Gershwin. 

Next up we have another release from 1979, duo album A Day Of The Sun with Masahiko Togashi. Both artists employ a variety of instruments on this experimental/free jazz album. Isao on his usual double bass, piccolo bass, cello, Solina synthesizer along with a variety of percussion instruments. Much of the same from Togashi, with his focus on drums, percussion and also synthesizer. I didn't make this page to be negative so I'll just say this one doesn't really do it for me. I've listened to it quite a few times but it's just a little to much meandering going on for me. Honorable mention for "Lonely Blue." Maybe someone here will feel differently. 

The final release I have from the 1970s is The Thing, released in 1979 as Isao Suzuki & New Family. Supporting Isao here we have Masayoshi Yoneda on keys, Takayuki Kato on guitar, Shuji Miyake on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Shigeo Hirayama on drums. Really nice album here with my favorites being "For Miles" with it's nice muted trumpet and "Sunburn Samba" with it's great piano and trumpet play. No real misses here, however. Enjoyable through and through. 

Also in 1980 and under the New Family name, we have Mongolian Chant featuring the great trombonist, Shigeharu Mukai and saxophonist, Toshiyuki Honda. Again we have Kato on guitar, Miyake on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Hirayama on drums. Also along for the ride are Ichiro Doi on keys and Motohiko Hamase on bass. Isao is here with his usual double bass, piccolo bass and also on Hammond organ. This isn't my favorite album but I do enjoy the opening, title track, along with "Joy."

The final album from the New Family is 1980's Bamboo Dance. A touch more accessible than the last few albums we've looked at, the same personnel is here as was on Mongolian Chant; sans Mukai and Honda. Looks like after the fantastic opening, title track, we have a few covers. Two of which I really enjoy in Legrand's standard "What Are You Doing With The Rest Of Your Life" and the Victor Young standard, "Stella By Starlight." I also thoroughly enjoy "Beat It Up."

Enjoy!!

Isao Suzuki Part 4

While getting this completed by the end of the week now seems unlikely, I hope everyone is enjoying Isao Suzuki's work to this point. Over the next couple of posts, I'm going to finish up what I have for the 1970's. I may pivot to some other music before diving into the 1980s. We'll see. 

Anyway, first up for today is another album that I enjoyed more than I expected. In 1978, Isao paired with Noriko Miyamoto for an album titled, Push. While this album is pretty readily available, I went ahead and included it here along with an instrumental version for those that also don't enjoy vocals. I must say though, Noriko has a beautiful voice. 

Joining her and Isao, we have Tatsuhiko Hizawa on bass, Masanori Sasaji on keys, Yuji Karaki on guitar, Tatsuji Yokoyama on percussion and Akira Doi on drums. The 2nd track is an instrumental by design and is a nice version of the standard "Stella By Starlight." This album is a lot funkier than I expected and the 2nd half is what I found to be the most enjoyable. The final three tunes, the title track, "Cadillac Woman" and "My Life" are all rock solid. A relatively short album but very enjoyable. 

Next up, also in 1978, we have an album I was really excited for based on the personnel in My Spare Time. An impressive lineup of sax player Sadao Watanabe, pianist Masahiko Satoh, guitarist Sadanori Nakamure, bassist Nobuyoshi Ino and drummer Motohiko Hino. Some great tunes here and Watanabe plays great, as expected. I particularly like the rendition of "Solitude." But what ruins this album for me is the abundance of synth strings, I'm assuming coming from Masahiko Satoh - where I've seen his name in credits doing the same elsewhere. In my opinion, they give the album too much of a soap opera theme song vibe. I may sit down and tinker and see if I can remove them. I'll add an update if it works out. 

For the next 3 albums, I was hesitant if I should include them. But due to Isao's prominent role, I figured why not. In 1978, there were 3 Burning Men Super Session albums released and they're all a little different from one another. We'll take a quick look at each and then move on. 

The first, Burning Super Session, features pianists Tsuyoshi Yamamoto and Mikio Masuda, bassist Tsutomu Okada, guitarist Kazumasa Akiyama, percussionist Yokoyama and drummer Keiji Kishida. The opening, title track is funky and features great playing from Akiyama on guitar and Masuda on synthesizer. There is some what I assume to be piped in applause that is somewhat annoying but otherwise a fantastic tune. Another favorite of mine is the Marvin Hamlisch tune from the OST of the same name, "The Way We Were."

The second, Solaris: Burning Super Session II, could honestly be a Kohsuke Mine album because he shoulders the load throughout. The rest of the personnel has some new faces for us in guitarist Takayuki Kato, bassist Hizawa, pianist Masayoshi Yoneda, on percussion and harmonica we have American Donald Bailey, along with drummer Shigeo Hirayama. Isao brings his piccolo bass, washtub bass, and plays the vibes on another rendition of "Feel Like Making Love." Yoneda plays wonderfully on the closing track, "Avenue" and as mentioned, Mine shine throughout. You can look around my page and find plenty more of his work, if interested. 

The third, Balloon: Burning Super Session III, features vocalist Hiroshi Suzuki, who I originally mistook for the trombonist of the same name. Yoneda is here again on keys, Hizawa on bass, Kato on guitar and Hirayama on drums. Also here is flautist Tamami Koyake. Along with his piccolo bass, Isao also plays some piano and offers some supporting vocals. I've also included an instrumental version of this one despite Hiroshi having a splendid voice. "Favela" "On A Clear Day" and "Spanish Hat" are my favorites here. 

I may try to squeeze in another post this afternoon, otherwise we'll finish up the 1970s next week. Have a great weekend and enjoy!

Isao Suzuki Part 3

Hey folks, back again with another round of Isao Suzuki albums. We're starting to get into the material that I find the most enjoyable. 

First up for today is Isao's only release as a sextet, 1976's Ako's Dream. Joining Isao and his cello, we have Watanabe again on guitar, along with guitarist Kazumasa Akiyama. We also have Motohiko Hamase on bass, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto on keys and Akira Doi on drums. 

We start off with 2 originals, the first being the somewhat spacey title track, followed by the swinging "Isao Family." You'll need a dance partner for that one. Next up we have my favorite tune from the album, an excellent rendition of "Feel Like Making Love" and we close with Benny Goodman's "Seven Come Eleven." Excellent album through and through and one I revisit pretty frequently. 

Missing here is 1976's Hip Dancin' so if anyone can help out with an assist, I'd be truly grateful.

On to 1977 we go with Cadillac Woman, again featuring Watanabe and Akiyama on guitar, Cedar Walton on keys, Sam Jones on bass with Billy Higgins on drums. Absolutely excellent groove on the opening, title track, but unfortunately none of the other tunes really moved me. We will revisit "Cadillac Woman" on our next post, as well. 

Next up for us is an album technically from the Sunao Wada Quartet feat. Isao Suzuki in 1977's Blues Blues Blues. Obviously, Wada is here on guitar, Isao is on bass and cello, Tetsujiro Obara is on drums and we also have Masaru Imada on piano & organ. Despite blues tunes not being my favorite, this is a pretty stellar album. It's heavy on guitar, as expected, and Wada plays wonderfully. Imada shines throughout on the organ, another sound that isn't my favorite but works quite well with the overall blues theme of the album. All Wada originals here with the exception being the second to last track from Oscar Pettiford, "Blues In The Closet." Personal favorite for me is the closing tune, "A Good Deal Of The Blues."

The final album for today is 1978's String Band, which features a relatively large group of players, led by the brilliant Masahiko Satoh in a conductor/arrangement role. Isao employs the piccolo bass, with living legend Ron Carter on double bass, Tomio Yajima on cello, Tatsuya Takizawa on viola, with Masatsugu Shinozaki and Takashi Sato on violin. We have yet another legend in Hank Jones on piano, Takeshi Onodera lending some support on percussion and Roy Haynes on drums. 

Obviously the presence of strings adds a new dynamic to the sound. The opening Horace Silver track, "Nica's Dream" is quite nice, along with a beautiful rendition of "Greensleeves." Honestly all 5 songs here are pretty nice. A unique album that is well worth the listen.

Hopefully I can get another round ready tomorrow. Until then, enjoy!

Isao Suzuki Part 2

Today we'll take a look at the next round of albums from Isao Suzuki. 

First we have 1975's Orang-utan and there's a little bit of a discrepancy regarding personnel on discogs vs the liner notes of the album. I'm going to stick to the album notes. Isao is here of course on bass, cello and electric piano, Osamu Kawakami is on double bass, Kenji Mori is on sax, flute and bass clarinet, Kazumi Watanabe on guitar and Shinji Mori is on drums. Track 2 features Mari Nakamoto on vocals. We'll have more from her shortly.

Orang-utan opens with a nice blues track, "Blue Road" featuring Isao on electric piano. Next we have a rendition of the Shirley Horn tune, "Where Are You Going" featuring Mari Nakamoto, as mentioned. She has a wonderful voice but as I am not a huge fan of vocals, I've included an instrumental version, as well. It's not an overly advanced method but it works. 

Next up is the standard, "My One And Only Love" with Isao playing the cello quite nicely. Kenji shines on the closing, title track, on bass clarinet. A sound I really dig. Overall a pretty groovy tune sounding more modern/fusion than most of the material thus far. Watanabe also ventures out further on guitar than we've heard to this point. He also has a massive catalog with a ton of stunning work worth checking. 

Next we have a quite pleasant album that I enjoyed more than I anticipated. Mari Nakamoto III features Nakamoto on vocals throughout and she's accompanied by Isao on bass and Watanabe on guitar. The instrumentation is very calming and fitting to Mari's vocals. I've also included an instrumental copy of the album, tagged separately, for those interested. Favorite tune here for me is the closing, and classic, "A Nightingale Sang In Berkley Square."

Also in 1975, we have a personal favorite of mine in the album, Touch. Released as Isao Suzuki and His Fellows, we again have Watanbe on guitar, as well as guitarist Masayuki Ise. Kunihiko Sugano is here on piano, as well as Tetsujiro Obara on drums. Offering some additional percussion, we have conga player, Yoichi Ogawa. The opening, title track, pivots between fusion and a more traditional sound and is worth the price of admission alone. The only original tune on the album, it's followed by 3 covers and a return to a more straight forward sound, including the standard "She's Funny That Way" and Monk classic, "Round Midnight."

The following year, 1976, Isao released Black Orpheus. Wonderful trio album featuring Tsuyoshi Yamamoto on piano and the well-traveled American drummer, Donald Bailey. All standards here with the exception of the closing tune from Yamamoto, "Blues." Personal favorites are the opening, title track, as well as the rendition of "Who Can I Turn To." Isao shines on the cello and Yamamoto is solid throughout. Enjoy!

Isao Suzuki Part 1

I'd like to take the next few posts to take a closer look at the work of bassist extraordinaire, Isao Suzuki. I spent a good portion of 2023 listening to his albums but I hadn't done a chronological deep dive yet like I like to. It wasn't until I dove in that I realized that aside from the double bass, piccolo bass and cello, Isao also played the keys and vibes, at times. 

Considered the "Jazz Godfather" in Japan, Isao has a vast catalog of his own albums, as well as a multitude of appearances on other artists' projects. Some albums are in fact on streaming, but due to the amount of files I have here, I'm just going to cover everything I have so far. I'm also going to try to keep each summary brief since there are 20+ albums to cover. I had to make a spreadsheet to keep them straight ffs. And I'm still not certain I have them in proper order but I did my best. 

First up, we have 1973's Blow Up. While Isao is on bass and cello, we also have fellow bassist Takashi Mizuhashi, wonderful pianist Kunihiko Sugano and drummer George Otsuka. Pretty straightforward album here with 6 tracks total. Personal favorites are the title track, along with the closing track "Low Flight" - both originals from Isao.

Next, we have 1974's Blue City. Joining again is pianist Kunihiko Sugano. Handling additional bass duties is Nobuyoshi Ino, who we may remember from our post on Hidefumi Toki. We also have legendary guitarist (and thankfully a recurring band member) Kazumi Watanabe, and drummer Tetsujiro Obara. Again, a relatively straight forward release with personal favorites being the middle 2 songs, original "45th Street At 8th Avenue" and the classic, "Play Fiddle Play."

Next up for us we have a live recording from the Toshi Center Hall in Tokyo in 1974. Now's The Time features quite the group of personnel across the 3 tracks. First, on the standard "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" we have Isoo Fukui on bass, splendid pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto and Obara returns on drums. The same group returns next for the Yamamoto tune "Midnight Sugar" and we also have Sunao Wada on guitar. Naturally, Yamamoto shines here. 

The real show stopper here is the final tune, "Now's The Time" from the legend Charlie Parker. Along to pay homage to the great, we have 4 total sax players with 2 on alto and 2 on tenor. On alto we have Kenji Mori and Yoshio Otomo and on tenor we have Mabumi Yamaguchi (who has a trio of album I absolutely love. All 3 are available but I may share here just b/c they're so good) and Takao Uematsu (who also has a great jazz-funk album from 1977, Straight Ahead.) We have Mitsuaki Furuno on bass, Otsuka again on drums and Toshiyuki Daitoku on keys. 

To finish today's post, we have 1974's All Right. Isao shows off his many talents here along with Watanabe on guitar. On electric bass we have Akira Okazawa, on double bass we have Osamu Kawakami and on drums we have Shinji Mori. Biggest takeaways here are the fantastic opening track "Nemuro" and Isao playing what seems like every instrument in some fashion. He picks up the bass, cello, drums, Hammond B3 organ, electric piano and the vibraphone. Truly remarkable. Kazumi Watanabe also shines throughout on guitar - even making an appearance with his acoustic on the standard, "Time After Time."

I hope anyone that stumbles upon this enjoys the opening of Isao's catalog. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to post the 2nd installment. 

Yoshio Suzuki

I couldn't begin to list all of the appearances Yoshio Suzuki has made over the years - but the Nagano-born bassist has a pair of albums, Friends and Matsuri, that we'll take a look at here. I believe the only appearance he has made on this page thus far is on Kohsuke Mine's 2nd Album. 

First up, we have 1973's absolute gem of an album in Friends. We will quickly recognize the names of his supporting cast in saxophonist Kohsuke Mine, pianist Takehiro Honda, drummer Hiroshi Murakami, and making an appearance on "Samba de Chico" is flautist, Hideo Miyata. We have 5 tracks here and as far as I can tell, all are original compositions from Suzuki. Personal favorites are the opening, title track, along with "Burning Point" and "K's Waltz." This album mostly has a hard bop vibe and the playing from everyone is superb throughout. 

Next, we have 1979's Matsuri, recorded in NYC in 1979. Accompanying Yoshio are a group of Americans in saxophonist/flautist Dave Liebman, pianist Andy Laverne, trumpeter Tom Harrell, percussionist Rubens Bassini, and legendary drummer Billy Hart. Six tracks here with my personal favorite being "Chappaqua." Laverne's part on this tune has an almost classical feel to it. Overall a solid release with less tempo and a calmer vibe than Friends. 

Into the 80's, Suzuki began playing more ambient sounding music and after a quick visit, I decided to stick with the 2 albums here. 

For the next few posts, I'll be working on sharing what I have from Isao Suzuki. We'll start with the first half of the 1970s. 

Arakawa Band

Apparently I listened to 1,018 different artists in 2023. Nearly all jazz in one shape or form. Some were artists I was already familiar with but I'd bet the majority were new to me. A favorite of mine I stumbled upon is what I'll cover today. Arakawa Band, lead by flautist and saxophonist Tatsuhiko Arakawa, absolutely blew me away when I listened to their limited catalog. 

Turns out, the group released two albums under the name The Great American Music Band before changing their name. Both albums were released in 1979 and I'm not 100% certain which album was released first. Based on sound alone, my guess is Over The Sky was the first release. It's a little more straight ahead and less funky than the remaining material which leads me to believe it was the group's debut. Quite the ensemble here: 

Saxophone, flute, clarinet: Tatsuhiko Arakawa
Saxophone, flute: Yasumasa Kikuchi
Trombone: Osamu Shiomura
Trumpet, Flugelhorn: Hitoshi Okano, Kenji Nakazawa, Toshio Araki
Keyboards: Ryozo Henmi, Tohru Miyahara, Kenji Sato
Electric guitar: Teiji Mihata
Electric bass: Koh Tsubota
Percussion: Eiji Narushima
Drums: Tsugio Ano

I can't find detailed notes on the album but we have 5 tracks here with personal favorites being "Sound Inn" and "A Lasamba". Tight instrumentation throughout. Arakawa's compositions and arrangements are bar none. I revisit this album the least and it's still a rock solid release. "A Lasamba" picks up the tempo and leads right into Scorpio quite well. 

Scor'pio comes in with a runtime of about 26 minutes and honestly I love every second of it. The opening tune (from Michael Brecker) "Night Flight" is the longest of the bunch at 7 minutes and sets the tone for the rest of the record. I could change my personal favorite after each listen but the opening track, the title track and the closing track, "Dream of Paradise" are all excellent. Again, tight instrumentation and stellar arrangements from Arakawa. Not a ton of drawn out improvisation, but rather quick hitting, uptempo tracks. This music is just flat out fun, in my opinion. Another sizeable ensemble: 

Saxophone, flute: Tatsuhiko Arakawa, Shoji Maeda
Trombone: Osamu Shiomura
Trumpet: Hitoshi Okano, Toshio Araki
Keyboards: Akihiro Miyaura, Kenji Sato, Yoshikazu Miyauchi
Electric guitar: Chuji Nagaoka, Teiji Mihata
Electric bass: Koh Tsubota
Percussion: Noboru Kimura
Drums: Shigeru Inoue

Next up, we have 1980's album with John Kaizan Neptune, Bamboo. Neptune is a renowned player of the shakuhachi, which is a Japanese bamboo flute. An American based in Japan, he has quite an extensive catalog, although this album is my only exposure to his music thus far. JKN fits in quite nicely with the group, although technically I believe this is his album featuring Arakawa Band. I also cannot find specific details regarding personnel. 

Five tracks here and they're all fantastic, in my opinion. I personally enjoy the final three the most, starting with the bouncy "Walk Downtown." The next two tunes, "Genji" and "Fun Key" both bring out the best of the ensemble. Can't stress enough how well Arakawa arranges and leads the group. Listen for yourself and enjoy. 

While the goal for the page has been to share music that isn't on streaming services, I enjoy this group too much to not include their other two albums here. Both are readily available digitally but for the sake of completeness, they'll be here too. 

First up is 1980's Lena, which was my first experience with the group. This was recommended to me by the algorithm and I decided to give it a chance based on the album artwork. Personnel appears to be the same as Scor'pio with the addition of another drummer, Kazuaki Misago and Yoshinori Nohmi on percussion. Vibraphonist Tatsuji Deguchi is also on board for the opening title track. 

More of the same great stuff here. 4 of the 6 tracks are originals with the exceptions being the excellent "Music For A Flowered Pig" from Roland Vasquez and the closing track, "Night Flight" which is the same Brecker tune from Scor'pio. All 6 songs are fantastic, in my opinion. Personal favorites is "Brass Magic" due to the synthesizer play but again this album is great stuff start to finish. 

The final release in the catalog is 1981's Hard Boiled featuring trumpeter Hitoshi Okano. With Okano being a mainstay in the group, I'm not sure why the featuring tag was added to the title. Perhaps he had a larger hand in the compositions, I'm not entirely sure. The album starts off with a fantastic tune "Shadow" and also features a couple excellent, slower tracks in "Ebb and Flow" and "In The Mellow." Personal favorite is the funky "Kick Down". Again, it appears that the personnel is essentially the same, although it looks like they may have used a few different percussionists. Another fantastic album to close out the catalog. 

The only complaint I have is I wish there were more albums to enjoy. Arakawa had a hand in arranging for a few other artists but I've only listened to a little bit so far. A lot of the band members seemed to have little other experience after this band. A shame really but at least we're lucky enough for the 5 albums we have here. 

BONUS TIME: I nearly forgot. While they're credited with only 2 tracks, I believe, Arakawa Band did have some sort of presence on a soundtrack for the film, "The Beast Must Die." Officially credited to Akihiko Takashima, the group is listed for the "Main Theme" and the second to last song, "Tokyo Machine." The soundtrack is worth a listen either way, and I've included it here, as well.

I hope anyone that comes across this enjoys this band as much as I have. Have a great weekend!