Yoshio Otomo - Moon Ray (1977)

Good morning. I've been digging through a few different artists' catalogs and have some deep dive posts on the way. I'm not quite ready to start any of them but in the meantime here is a nice little album I found along the way. While listening through fan-favorite Tsuyoshi Yamamoto's catalog, I found he played piano on this album from saxophonist Yoshio Otomo. Released on Three Blind Mice in 1977, Moon Ray pays homage to the Artie Shaw tune of the same name. 

Yoshio strictly employs the alto sax on this one and is joined by Tamio Kawabata on bass who we encountered during our look at Native Son. We also have drummer "Jess" Kurata who appears on a Mickey Masuda album we will explore soon enough. Rounding out the quartet is the previously mentioned pianist Yamamoto who has a splendid catalog - if you're unfamiliar, we will soon cover his work, as well. 

Mostly straight forward, acoustic stuff on this one - and Otomo has a beautiful sound on alto. Very tasteful throughout. Mostly covers on this one aside from one Otomo original in "Love Comes Quietly" which is a very nice ballad that features great playing from both Otomo and Yamamoto. I also really dig the tune prior to this one in "If I Should Lose You" which has a bit more pace to it. This one closes with another tune with a nice pace to it in Oliver Nelson's "Shufflin."


Enjoy!

Comments

  1. CKApril 3, 2024 at 12:07 PM

    krakenfiles is refusing to cooperate today. Let's try this:
    https://www.idrive.com/idrive/sh/sh?k=l1l0y0f4g6

    ReplyDelete
  2. Guitarradeplastico,scraping odditiesApril 4, 2024 at 6:48 AM

    Many thanks

    ReplyDelete

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