Fumio Karashima - Part 3

Good morning. Back again with our next look at Fumio Karashima's work. 

First for today we have another acoustic trio album in 1981's A Child In The Wind. Mainstay George Otsuka is here again on drums and this time we have American Richard Davis on bass. All originals on this one and we again have a pretty straightforward sound from the trio. Davis adds the bow into the mix on "Portrait" and I particularly enjoy the title track. Nothing earth-shattering here but a nice album. 

Next up we have yet another acoustic trio album in 1982's Elegant Evening. This time we have Motohiko Hino on drums with Ikuo Sakurai on bass. All originals here with the exception of the final 2 tunes. "After Love Emptiness" from Bobby Thomas and "Nefertiti" from legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter. I personally really dig the somber vibe of "Ancient Tales." I also really enjoy the B side to this one - listed as "Medley" it's comprised of "Chasin'" "Vesper" and the previously mentioned "After Love Emptiness." Good stuff again on this one.

Last for us today is our 2nd quartet album (kind of). 1983's Round Midnight obviously pays homage to the legend Thelonious Monk and the famous tune leads this one off. This time we have the same trio from Elegant Evening with the addition of Larry Coryell on guitar. Although Coryell doesn't make an appearance until "Nica's Dream" - the 5th song on the album - and plays the acoustic guitar which really doesn't do it for me when it comes to jazz guitar. He appears on the final 3 tunes of the album. In contrast to most of what we've heard so far, this one is made up of all covers/standards. Favorites for me would be Coltrane tune "Wise One" and a nice take on Wayne Shorter classic "Footprints."

I have 2 more from Fumio that I'd like to go ahead and squeeze in to this post. I'm missing quite a few of his albums, unfortunately, and for these next 2 I have limited information. For our next we jump ahead to 1989 which saw the release of a quintet album titled Joy. Joining Fumio we again have Ikuo Sakurai on bass, Shingo Okudaira on drums, and we have 2 saxophonists in Masahiro Fujioka on soprano and alto with Toshihiko Inoue on soprano and tenor. This one definitely has a late-80s contemporary jazz vibe to it. Nothing ground-breaking here but I do really dig ballad "Dawn Wind" and "Mysterious Nights."

We close with another acoustic trio album - this time from 2002 and without a Discogs page. The Elysian Air again features Okudaira on drums with Yosuke Inoue on bass. The issue with this one I've found is that most tracklists differ from the copy I have. I believe I have it corrected properly but forgive me if you find an error. Mostly straight ahead stuff here and I really enjoy originals "Open The Gate" and "Tony Williams."

Enjoy! I'll be back next week.