Mikio Masuda - Part 1

One of my favorite artists from the last couple of years is Osaka-born keyboardist, Mikio Masuda. I'm nearly 100% certain my first time hearing him was on Kohsuke Mine's excellent album Sunshower, although it could have been Takao Uematsu's also very enjoyable Straight Ahead album. Either way, Mickey plays an excellent piano and has quite a few quality albums that we'll cover here. As the 80s went on, he began to lose me (like most others) and he eventually returned to a more acoustic sound in the 90s. But I enjoy nearly all of his albums throughout the 70s. I'll share everything I have regardless of era and let you make the call. 

The first album we'll look at is from 1974 and released on the East Wind label. Trace features a group of mostly familiar faces. Joining Masuda on piano we have Terumasa Hino on flugelhorn, Takao Uematsu on sax and Hideo Miyata on flute, although each player only appears on 1 track a piece. We also have Tsutomo Okada on bass and Motohiko Hino on drums. 

All originals from within the group on this one. It's also the closest to acoustic straight ahead jazz that we'll hear compared to the rest of the decade. Personal favorites for me are "Hard Luck" which features Masuda playing at a feverish pace and "Prayer" where Uematsu shines, as well as Masuda. Not a bad album whatsoever but I tend to prefer the remainder of what we'll hear throughout the 70s. 

Next up for us is one of my favorite albums of the lot. Released in 1976 and also on East Wind, Mickey's Mouth takes a turn towards fusion and jazz-funk. Masuda employs the Rhodes, clavinet, organ and synthesizer with Masayoshi Saitoh on guitar and Osamu Kawakami on bass. We also have Guilherme Franco on percussion with Jess Kurata on drums. Joining for one tune is our friend Kohsuke Mine on soprano sax. 

All originals again from within the group and this one starts off with great energy with the Saitoh tune "What's Happening." Next we have Masuda's signature song in "Let's Get Together" - a tune we'll hear various renditions of as we go. This version happens to be my favorite and the bass line from Kawakami is perfect to me. Kawakami tune "Hello Jess" is next and has a bit of a rock vibe to it. Saitoh's guitar and Masuda's organ play off of each other quite nicely. Mine makes his appearance on Masuda tune "I Saw The Light" which might be the best track on the album. Another great bass line from Kawakami and Mine's soprano is on point as always. We close with another Masuda tune in "Airplane" and it again has a rock vibe to it with Saitoh's guitar and Masuda's synthesizer doing the heavy lifting. Excellent album start to finish. 

Masuda's next album came in 1978 and was released via the Better Days label. This time around, joining Mickey on Moon Stone we have 2 guitarists, Kazumi Watanabe and Kazumasa Akiyama. We also have bassist Motohiko Hamase and drummer Hideo Yamaki. 

This one starts with the great rhythm of "Mickey's Samba" which features great play on the organ from Masuda. "Funky Wave" and the title track follow and are a touch slower but feature great work on the synthesizer and Rhodes. "Space Coaster" is up next and while I love the tempo, the guitar playing is a bit too fast for my preference. The 2nd half of the tune more than makes up for it, though. Next we have another rendition of "Let's Get Together" and the guitar playing totally redeems itself. This version is a little bouncier that what we heard on Mickey's Mouth and might be the best track on the album. "Vibration #1" is next and is a duo tune with drummer Yamaki with Masuda strictly on the clav. We close with the forgettable "Keep On Loving" which has vocals from Akiyama and is a mostly generic sounding tune. I didn't include an instrumental since the tune overall isn't much to write home about.

Enjoy!