Mabumi Yamaguchi

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 "Breeze" - an early morning, calming tune. All original compositions from Mabumi and a very well-done album. 

Next up, in 1978, Mabumi returned with Leeward and we have a new group of personnel. On keys we have Ichiro Doi, who we saw on a few of Isao Suzuki's albums, on bass we have Ikuo Sakurai and on drums we have Hideo Sekine. A stellar album that starts off with "Dawn," another tune with great pace that primarily features Mabumi on the sopranino. I'm kind of hooked on this song and while I hate comparing artists from the past to the present-day, Doi's style on the electric piano reminds me of the superb UK musician, Kamaal Williams. "Dewdrop" slows things way down and "Distant Thunder" picks it back up with the same vibe as "Dawn." The closing, title track, has a mild Latin/Island sound to it. Incredible stuff all the way around and again, all originals from Yamaguchi.

The third album we'll look at is from 1981 and again features a new group of players. Recorded in NYC, Mabumi has Americans Kenny Kirkland on keys and the legendary Tony Williams on drums. Also along for the ride is Czech bassist Miroslav Vitous of Weather Report fame. Moving into the 80s, Mabumi's playing style hasn't changed much at all, thankfully. A calm opening tune "Thalia" starts things off, followed by the Samba-esque "Merry-Go-Round" where Williams also stands out. Slightly shorter tracks on this one and again all originals from Mabumi, aside from "Clearways" which is a Williams tune and has more of a bop feel than the others. I particularly enjoy "Illusion" and "Voices Of The Night" - and we close with "Wizard" - and on the final two tracks Vitous brings out bow which is always cool to hear. 

Throw these on this weekend and have enjoy! 

Sidenote: I'll be updating some posts with better quality copies. I'll add a note to the title for those with lossless versions added.