Teruo Nakamura - Part 2

Back again with more from Teruo Nakamura. I have a few more albums than I realized so this might be a 3 or 4 post series. 

First for today is the 1977 release on Polydor, Manhattan Special. This album was also released as Songs Of The Birds. I think this might be the reason I stumbled upon Teruo because Herbie Hancock is featured here on Rhodes and synthesizer. As usual, there is a sleuth of musicians featured so I'm not certain which tunes Herbie is playing on. Please check the link if you'd like to see the full breakdown of personnel. 

This one starts of with the great title tune and doesn't really disappoint. I especially dig "Firefly" and "Wiggle Worm" which features some great synthesizer play so perhaps this is where Herbie jumped in. There's also some great Rhodes play on the short tune "Mr. Cherry and Mr. T" before we close with "Love Is A Reflection In The Mirrors Behind Your Eyes/Sunrise In Africa." Quite the title for another solid tune to close out another great album. 3 for 3 so far.

Next up is the album Big Apple; recorded in NYC and released on Agharta in 1979. Again we have quite a few players lending support so please check this link for details. The only names I recognize after a quick glance are Steve Grossman on sax, Randy Brecker on flugelhorn and the great Hubert Laws on flute. 

I find this one to be mostly boring. I do dig the opening tune "Mr. & Mrs. Funk" which gave me high hopes for the album. The following tune "Teaser" is also solid along with "El Coqui." The rest of the album could be described as smooth fusion - there just isn't enough of a pulse for me to revisit this one. Hopefully a one-off. 3 out of 4. 

In the same year, 1979, Teruo and his band recorded the live album At Carnegie Hall. Perhaps around the same time he recorded Big Apple, but I'm not certain. We return to some more interesting music than what we heard previously. Maybe we should have checked this one before Big Apple. 

Only 4 tunes here and all 4 are solid. I especially dig the closing tune "Steppin With The Lord" from pianist Harry Whitaker. Randy Brecker shines on trumpet, as expected. The first 3 tunes are all great, too. "Manhattan Special", "Rising Sun" and "Wiggle Worm." All in all a great live performance. 4 out of 5 so far. 

Enjoy! I'll try to finish this off this week.