Mikio Masuda - Part 2

Back again with our next look into Mikio Masuda's catalog. 

First album for today was released in 1979 on the Electric Bird label. Corazon pays homage to the Carole King song first featured on her Fantasy album, I do believe. Corazon also have an accent over the o but my keyboard hates me today. Joining Mickey we have Anthony Jackson on bass, Sammy Figueroa on percussion with Bernard Purdie on drums. We also have a strings section led by David Mathews; for a full list of the names please check the discogs link above.

This one starts off with great tempo and a Latin vibe in the title track. Mickey's synthesizer is fantastic before switching over to his Rhodes. The full strings section adds a nice element to it, as well. This track does feature some limited vocals in Spanish. The 2 other covers are also highlights. First is the Robert Lamm tune "Another Rainy Day In New York City" which also features limited vocals. The other is the Sadao Watanabe tune "Samba Em Praia." We also have another great rendition of "Let's Get Together" before closing with another nice Masuda tune in "Love Talkin'." I've included an instrumentals for the title track and ARDINYC although the vocals are pretty minimal on both.

Later that year, Masuda released another album on Electric Bird titled, Goin' Away. This record features a long list of musicians so please refer to the link for the full list. This one is a little hit or miss and is mostly originals with exception of 2 songs. We start off with the title track which features great play from Masuda on the clav, followed by the Latin-inspired "Spanish Fantasy." Other highlights for me would be "Funky Surf" despite the somewhat corny vocals and "See-Saw Song." There are vocals on a handful of the tunes here so I included an instrumental version separately. 

I don't like to backtrack but the previous year in 1978 Masuda performed live on Tokyo radio station NHK FM. I have an entire series of live performances from this station around this time and I'll share the rest eventually. For today we'll stick to the Masuda performance which is the first, and in my opinion, the best of the group. While I don't have any details about personnel, there's some great musicianship going on here. The set opens with Terumasa Hino tune "Black Daffodils" which features a flautist and trombonist. Masuda tune "Prayer" that we heard on Trace is next and features Mickey playing beautifully on the acoustic piano and a saxophonist lending support. 

Next, we get ourselves another version of "Let's Get Together" which features great saxophone play. It's hard to guess who might be the player, but we did see Takao Uematsu on Trace, so perhaps it's him. Whoever it is, they play wonderfully. Next we have "Mickey's Samba" and "Moon Stone" with the flautist and trombonist lending support again. The saxophonist returns for a nice version of "Funky Wave" and I notice a percussionist for the first time. Maybe my favorite of the set with Masuda sounding fantastic on the Rhodes. We close with another tune from Trace in "Add Some" which includes the saxophonist and trombonist. That wraps up a nice live set. I look forward to sharing the others. 

Enjoy!