Kohsuke Mine

Hello there. Today we'll take a look at some albums from saxophonist and Native Son founding member, Kohsuke Mine. I'm not sure what originally lead me to his work but these albums eventually lead me to Native Son. We're only covering a snippet of albums that I haven't been able to find on streaming services. 

First up, we have 1970's release, Mine. A relatively straightforward album with a nice lineup of Hideo Ichikawa on piano, fellow Native Son founding member Hiroshi Murakami on drums, Takashi Mizuhashi on bass, and also joining is trombonist, Takashi Imai. Significance here is that this is the first release on legendary record label Three Blind Mice. We have 3 originals here from Mine and Ichikawa, along with a rendition of Isotope from fellow saxophonist, the much beloved Joe Henderson. 

Released in the same year, the conveniently titled 2nd album again features Murakami on drums and Imai on trombone. Yoshio Suzuki handles bass duties with the quite enjoyable guitarist Yoshiaki Masuo rounding out the quintet. All originals here with a personal favorite being the Suzuki tune "Brother In Law."

Next up for us is Out Of Chaos; released in 1974 on the East Wind label. Here Mine is joined by Masabumi Kikuchi on piano, Tsutomu Okada on bass, with Motohiko Hino on drums. All accomplished players in their own right. Only 3 tracks here and all originals from within the group. My favorite is the nice Kikuchi ballad, "Little Abi." Solid album all around, however.

Next for us is a live recording from 1975. Released in 1976, Solid features Mikio Masuda on keyboards, Hideaki Mochizuki on bass and Arihide Kurata on drums. Here the group starts with a somewhat spacey Masuda tune, "You Make Me So Sad," followed by a very nice version of Mine's "Expectation," a personal favorite. This album is also the first time I recall hearing Mine playing his electric soprano saxophone. The group closes, and Mine returns to his tenor with a rendition of "Search For Peace," from legendary pianist, McCoy Tyner. Fantastic stuff here, through and through.

Next up is my favorite album from the group and nothing short of a classic in 1976's Sunshower. Again featuring Masuda, Mochizuki and Kurata, we also have Hiroshi Yasukawa on guitar with Hideo Miyata on percussion. Four original tunes here from Masuda and Mine, and a shift to fusion that has a psychedelic rock vibe at times, in part due to Yasukawa's addition on guitar. This one stays in my steady rotation. I could gush about each track but I'll let the music do the talking. Excellent album. 

Enjoy!