CK Listens

The month of March this year will be special to me because I'm going to see one of my all-time favorite artists in concert for the first time. Around 20 years ago I was taking a history of jazz course and despite listening to jazz for most of my life, I learned that I didn't know as much about jazz as I thought. We studied each decade in chronological order and it was a great time. Eventually we landed in the 70s and learned about some of the artists that had moved towards playing electric jazz. At the forefront of that movement was the legendary Herbie Hancock. I don't remember which album got to me first but I do believe it was Man-Child. The music was far out but still groovy. I fell in love with jazz all over again.  To honor the legend's career and to celebrate seeing him live in concert - I'd like to take a look into not only Herbie's catalog - but those that joined him along the way. I love the  genealogy of jazz in the sense that every artist/album leads

Hey there - today I want to squeeze in a quick post for a one-off album I really dig. I've decided to start sharing albums regardless of digital availability - because why the heck not. I stumbled across this one strictly because of the release year, 1976. While the 1970s are my favorite decade musically, 1975-1979 are my favorite stretch of the decade. I often just spend time searching releases by year in hopes of finding something new to me to; which is how I found this one. The Keyboard Circle is a Dutch trio with a unique set-up of 2 keyboardists and a drummer. We have  Rob Franken on the Rhodes, clavinet and synthesizer, Jan Huydts on Rhodes and synthesizer and Henk Zomer on drums. Not released until 2009, 1976 was recorded live in the Netherlands at a venue in Pinjacker on February 8th, 1976. The album has a great fusion sound through and through and is made up of mostly originals. Exceptions being "Blue Bossa" from Kenny Dorham  and the final two tracks, "

Before I started this post, I tried to figure out where I first heard this guitarist. I'm fairly confident it was on the Pamoja album from Sadoa Watanabe that I made a post for previously but I'm not 100% certain. Nonetheless, where ever it was, I really enjoyed Yoshiaki Masuo 's sound and started diving into his work. Sadly, none of it blew me away like I hoped but I still found it relatively enjoyable. Most of his catalog is available digitally but despite looking far and wide, I could not find his debut album, 24 , anywhere. Turns out its on a few platforms digitally but licensing has a couple of the songs blocked in my country, the US. It became a borderline unhealthy obsession for a few days until finally I broke down and bought a copy. Hopefully any weary internet travelers in pursuit of this album will find their way here.  Released in 1970, 24 features a great lineup - which likely contributed to my steadfast pursuit. It looks like different groups of personnel

I first came across saxophonist  Mabumi Yamaguchi on The Players ' albums - which are fantastic and worthy of a post at some point. He also was featured on the Now's The Time album we looked at during our spotlight on Isao Suzuki and on the recent Motohiko Hino live albums.  I've spent the last few weeks listening to this trio of albums and I've thought of a million things to say about them. They get better with every listen, to be honest. The first album, After The Rain , is from 1976 and lucky for us, we have a great supporting cast. Nobuyoshi Ino  is on bass with Kazumi Watanabe on guitar. Fumio Karashima is on keys and George Ohtsuka is on drums. Mabumi's tunes, whether quick or slow, have great pace and feel. This album opens with a really well composed tune in "Breeze." "Bird" has a touch more swing while "Beagle" picks up the tempo with a jazz funk vibe and sounds more like 1976. "Horizon" has a similar feel as &qu

Shortly after making my post on the drummer Motohiko Hino , I stumbled upon a copy of another live album of his:  Flying Clouds . Recorded in 1976 but not released until 2022, we have essentially the same lineup as we saw on "Ryuhyo" - Sailing Ice , with the addition of percussionist Yuji Imamura .  This release again starts off with "Ryuhyo" but this time it's 21 minutes long. Both sax players shine but the first part, which to me sounds like Mabumi Yamaguchi, is the highlight. My next post will be a look at 3 of his albums that I've been stuck on recently.  Next up we have another 20+ minute track, this time it's the Watanabe tune, "Olive's Step" which we also heard on Toko . After each sax player shows out - Watanabe takes over - followed by a nice drum solo from Hino. Excellent fusion tune and I can't stress enough how great Watanabe is.  We close with the title track and it too is a great fusion tune. Not quite 18 minutes in length

Next up, we'll take a quick look at an album from the band Hiroshima . If I recall, members of Caldera  eventually joined this band in some capacity - which is what lead me to them. The album we'll look at today is really the only album of theirs that I've listened to thoroughly. It has some vocals throughout and I've included a mostly clean instrumental version, in addition to the main album. Although, I must say, the original album with vocals is a solid listen in and of itself. Odori is the 2nd album from the group, and from what I've read, one of their funkier albums - which is probably why I like it so much. The band was formed in California by saxophonist/flautist Dan Kuramoto and his eventual wife, June Kuramoto , who is a renowned  koto player. The pair has been joined by a long list of musicians over the years and this album in particular has quite the supporting cast. Here we have guitarist Peter Hata , keyboardist Richard Mathews , bassist Dane Matsumu

Good morning - I've been super busy and this week will be no different but I have a ton of music to share. Going to try to squeeze in as many posts as possible. I'm waiting on a few things to arrive and I'll have a couple new deep dive/spotlight posts similar to what I did for Isao Suzuki. But for now I'd like to share an album I've been listening to quite a bit lately. I have a few more to share from this artist as well - so stay tuned for a follow-up.  Released in 1972, the Masabumi Kikuchi Sextet released an original soundtrack for the film, Hairpin Circus . Joining pianist Kikuchi , we have a stellar group of players and quite a few familiar faces. While Kikuchi covers the piano and Rhodes, his brother Masahiro is on the organ. On "Circus-No Trace" they vibe together quite well. On soprano saxophone we have our dear friend Kohsuke Mine and he shines throughout, as expected. On bass we have Yoshio Suzuki and on drums we have Motohiko Hino and Yoshiy

Hello there. Another quick post for today. I haven't delved too deeply into either artists' catalog, but Kirk Lightsey and Rudolph Johnson recorded a fantastic album together in 1974 titled, Habiba . Joining Lightsey on keys and Johnson on tenor and flute, we have Johnny Boshoff on bass, Charles Mallory on guitar, Delbert Hill on clarinet, Danny Cortez on trumpet, Al Hall on trombone and Curtis Kirk on drums.  The opening, title track is just over 21 minutes long and only seems to feature Lightsey, Johnson, Boshoff and Kirk. A touch more accessible than spiritual jazz, it certainly feels free at times with all 4 players combining for a beautiful sound. I'm not 100% sure when/why I stumbled on to this album, but I re-visit it all the time. Johnson appears on another album I really enjoy: LaMont Johnson - Nine... A Mystical, Musical Allegory - so I'm guessing that's the connection.  The next track, "Here It Is" has a different sound entirely. It ha

We've heard trombonist Shigeharu Mukai featured on a Ryojiro Furusawa album as well as a Takeo Moriyama album . Most of Mukai's catalog is available digitally, and for now we'll take a look at the lone album I have that isn't. I'm considering switching things up and sharing albums that I love, regardless of their availability on streaming, but we shall see. Released in 1976, Favorite Time features a great group of players alongside Mukai. We have Kazumi Watanbe on guitar, Fumio Itabashi on piano, Hideaki Mochizuki on bass and American Oliver Johnson on drums. All standards on this one but we won't let that deter us as there are some well played renditions here.  We open with a nice version of Coltrane's arrangement of "Afro Blue" - which is an interesting listen with no sax in the group. Watanabe and Mukai follow on a duo rendition of "Old Folks" which is the closest thing to a ballad on the album. After "Autumn Leaves"

Hello there - a quick post to start the week. Those that followed along with my Isao Suzuki posts may remember an album from 1978 that had a stellar lineup - but had strings added that killed the vibe, in my opinion. I love strings in most cases - but the artificial, piped in strings on My Spare Time were a little too much for my liking.  I messed around this past weekend and pulled the strings out of the audio with pretty decent success. I just listened to the album again and it's an instant improvement as far as I'm concerned.  To recap, Isao is joined by fellow bassist Nobuyoshi Ino , saxophonist Sadao Watanabe , pianist Masahiko Satoh , guitarist Sadanori Nakamure and drummer Motohiko Hino . Mostly standards here but the talent level of this lineup is nearly unmatched. Take a listen and see if you dig the album with or without the strings. I'll have more to dive into later this week. 

Happy Friday. Today I'd like to take a look at an album that I stumbled upon last year at some point.  The Adventure of Kohsuke Kindaichi  was released in 1977 and was  inspired by the Kohsuke Kindaichi novels from author,  Seishi Yokomizo .  The Mystery Kindaichi Band appears to only have released this one album I haven't looked into the group much at all so maybe this can springboard us into some other interesting releases.  The group's name certainly seems to be by design because it appears to be mostly a mystery. The limited credits I can find include composer and pianist  Kentaro Haneda , composer Hiroshi Takada , and bassist  Hideaki Takebe . A little digging lists additional members as pianist  Hideo Ichikawa , drummer  Jun Moriya , percussionist Tadaomi Anai , and trumpeter Koji Hatori . It seems the group came together for the sole purpose of making this album, and for it to come across as a fictional film score, of sorts. Whatever the case, it's a fantastic l

Today we will keep with the drummer theme and take a quick look at a couple of live albums from Motohiko Hino . Younger brother of the excellent trumpeter, Terumasa , who I will have a post for sometime soon, Motohiko was considered one of the best drummers from Japan during his career. Unfortunately, his life was cut short when he passed in 1999, at the age of 43.  The first album to discuss is from 1975 and features a nice group of players who we've encountered at some point throughout our travels. Toko: At Nemu Jazz Inn  was recorded live on July 20th, 1975 and features Mikio Masuda on keys, Kazumi Watanabe on guitar and our friend Isao Suzuki on bass. Fantastic fusion sound here on all 3 tracks that are originals from within the group. "You Make Me So Sad" is a Masuda tune that also appeared on Kohsuke Mine's Solid album that we covered previously. The remaining tracks are both from Watanabe, with both being the title tracks from his albums Olive's Step a

Good morning. Today I want to share a little bit of music from another drummer, Takeo Moriyama . Many are familiar with his albums Smile and East Plants , both of which are pretty readily available. I have a few here that we'll look at that I really enjoy. All 3 are relatively straightforward hard-bop sounding records - without any of the "smooth" sounds that began to emerge in the late 70s and certainly into the 80s. First up,  released in 1977,  we have the live recording, Flush Up . Joining Takeo, we have saxophonist  Tomoki Takahashi , who we should remember from our previous post on Ryojiro Furusawa, another familiar face in bassist, Hideaki Mochizuki , and the excellent pianist, Fumio Itabashi . The opening, title track, is 18 minutes of absolute ruckus. All 4 players shine and Takeo's drum solo is worth the price of admission. Takahashi also shreds on this one. The type of energy I love. Next up, we have a great rendition of standard "Softly, As In A Morn

Happy Friday. Today, I'd like to take a quick look at drummer Ryojiro Furusawa . We'll hear a variety of sounds as we progress and each album is stellar in its own way, in my opinion. From 1976, You Wanna Rain is a relatively straightforward release and features a great group of players. Joining Ryojiro we have pianist Toshiyuki Daitoku , bassist Mochizuki Hideaki , saxophonist Tomoki Takahashi and excellent trombonist Shigeharu Mukai .  Talent level is demonstrated quickly as the record opens with the 12-minute tune "Acoustic Chicken" with saxophonist Takahashi playing wonderfully. "Snake Walk" sounds exactly how you'd expect it to and Mukai makes his presence felt on another excellent tune in "Yellow Cherry." All originals here as far as I can tell with the exception of the closing tune, ballad "For Heaven's Sake." Overall, a fantastic album.  The following year, 1977, brought another superb album in Racco . We have the same g