Fumio Karashima - Part 2

Hey there. Today we'll continue our look into pianist Fumio Karashima. 

The first album for today, Moonflower, was released in 1978 as Fumio Karashima Meets Elvin Jones. Joining Fumio and the legendary drummer, we have bassist Andy McCloud who accompanied Elvin on many of his late 70s, early 80s recordings. More of what we're used to on this one with mostly straight ahead sounds from the trio. The opening title track is quite nice followed by a nice rendition of standard, "My Funny Valentine." Original "Friday Night" is next which picks up the tempo just a touch and features quite a bit of soloing from Jones. Another original from Fumio follows in "Bitter Waltz" before we close with the Coltrane tune "Bessie's Blues." Altogether, a very nice little record.

Next for us is our first quartet album in 1979's Hot Islands. Joining Fumio on this one we have saxophonist Mabumi Yamaguchi, bassist and Weather Report founding member, Miroslav Vitous and drummer George Otsuka. This is my favorite album of the bunch and has the most interesting music of the period, in my opinion. Yamaguchi obviously adds an element with his passionate playing on sax but Vitous employs the bow on his bass which is also a new sound we've yet to hear on the other albums from Fumio. Also our first time hearing Fumio on electric keyboards, if I recall correctly. 

Really enjoy this one from start to finish. We open with "By Road" and the title track, both excellent Fumio tunes. Followed by Karashima/Otsuka tune "Chardin Square" which brings us closest to a fusion sound thus far. The band also does a great job with Weather Report/Vitous tune "American Tango." We also have a nice rendition of Yamaguchi tune "Breeze" that we heard on After The Rain although I still prefer the original. We close with another Yamaguchi tune in "Merry Go Round" that we heard on Mabumi. Fumio shines and I believe this is our first time hearing him on the Rhodes. Otsuka also plays very well. Excellent album all around.

We return to an acoustic trio ensemble and more straightforward sound on 1980's Sho. Along with Fumio on piano and Otsuka again on drums, this time we have Nobuyoshi Ino on bass, who we haven't seen in a while. All originals on this one from Karashima aside from a lovely solo piano rendition of "Lament." The J.J. Johnson tune we also heard on Piranha. We also get another version of "Little Island" that we also heard on Piranha. Another nice one here is the closing tune "Starting Off" which features Fumio playing at a quicker pace than typical. 

Enjoy!