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!