Sunao Wada - Blues World (1974)

Hey again. Gonna squeeze another quick post in today as I leave for vacation tomorrow. I was working on a deep dive into the Three Blind Mice label and starting hunting for all that I could find. Along the way, I couldn't track down release TBM-25 from guitarist Sunao Wada anywhere. Eventually I found a physical copy and am happy to share it today.

We heard some of Sunao's playing on Coco's Blues and Now's The Time during our look into bassist Isao Suzuki. Released in 1974, Blues World is a 4 tune album, with 2 covers and 2 originals. Obviously a bluesy sound here throughout and joining Sunao we have organist Ushio Sakai, bassist Mitsuaki Furuno and drummer Arihide Kurata. On the closing tune, we also have excellent saxophonist Takao Uematsu.

The meat and potatoes of this one is mostly the 10-minute opening tune "Now See How You Are" and the nearly 20-minute closing, title track. Although all 4 tunes are pretty solid. I especially dig Sakai's playing on the B3, as well as Takao and of course, Sunao plays wonderfully.

I'll be back late next week and have drummer Takeshi Inomata on deck. 

Enjoy!

Tadao Sawai - Jazz Rock Koto (1973)

Hey there. Quick one for today. Tadao Sawai was a renowned koto player - which is a curved Japanese stringed instrument. He was active from the 1960s until his death in 1997. The album we have here today is titled Jazz Rock Koto and was released in 1973 on RCA. 

Joining Sawai we have have his wife, and fellow koto player, Kazue Sawai, saxophonist Jake Concepcion, trumpeters Takehisa Suzuki and Kenji Yoshida and trombonist Tadataka Nakazawa. We also have Norio Maeda on keyboards, Hozan Yamamoto on the shakuhachi, Sadanori Nakamure on guitar, Tatsuro Takimoto on bass, Osamu Nakajima on percussion with Takeshi Inomata on drums. The famed drummer is what led me to this album. This post is a pre-cursor to an Inomata post I'll try to do next. Amazing jazz-rock stuff in his catalog. 

12 relatively quick tunes on this one. Impressive musicianship from the entire group throughout. I really dig the sound of the koto and the shakuhachi (Japanese flute). I would call this album jazz-rock (obviously it's in the title) with some funky mixtures. The koto and the shakuhachi also add nice elements of traditional Japanese music. 

Favorites here would be "Soran Bushi", "Hietsuki Bushi" and "Itsuki No Komori Uta." Although "Hokkai Bon Uta" and "Kiso Bushi" are also stellar, with the latter maybe being the best tune overall. Pretty cool album. 

Toshiaki Yokota

How's it going? Today we're going to give a listen to the flautist Toshiaki Yokota. Not entirely sure where I stumbled upon him, but I will say I find the albums here to be quite good. Not exclusively jazz, we have elements of traditional Japanese music, jazz-rock and funk. Even some free jazz sounds sneak in at times. Good stuff.

The first album for today was released in 1970 as Toshiaki Yokota and The Beat Generation, with the album titled Flute Adventure: Le Soleil Etait Encore Chaud. Joining Yokota on bass, alto and Indian flutes, we have guitarists Nobuyuki Murakami, Sadanori Nakamure and Kimio Mizutani, pianist Hideo Ichikawa, bassists Masaoki Terakawa and Kimio Sato, percussionists Eiji Narushima, Larry Sunaga and Pedro Uemura, and on drums we have Antonio Ishida. 

Personally, I start digging this one on side B. "Ofelia" and "Samba de Orfeu" are both really nice tunes. There's also a very nice version of "Black Orpheus" here. Best tune out of the bunch might be the closing, "Reza (Ending Samba)". More of a fusion sound than a samba but either way, Ichikawa plays wonderfully - as does the entire group. Good record all around.

In the same year, Toshiaki also released an album titled Exciting Flute. All covers of popular rock and blues songs of the time, we also have a lengthy list of personnel. Please check the link for a full breakdown. Standout names for me would be pianists Hideo Ichikawa and Masura Imada. Both of whom I owe you guys a post on. 

Covers like this aren't typically my thing but there are some jams on here. "Vehicle", "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "Venus" are the highlights here. I also dig "Up Around The Bend" a tune from John Fogerty. 

Next up might be my favorite album of the bunch. Also released in 1970, Elevation again features Ichikawa on piano and Nakamure on guitar. Bassist Jun Suzuki is here with percussionist Larry Sunaga. We also have Takeshi Inomata on drums. We'll have a post for Inomata soon enough. Also, this one was arranged by the great Masahiko Satoh. 

All good stuff here. "On The Road" is a nice original from Yokota. Inomata tune "Curved Navel" is also really good. Ichikawa original "How Long Have I Been Waiting For You" is also a quite nice tune. Bouncy jazz-rock throughout on this one. I dig it. 

The last album we'll take a look at was released in 1971 as Primitive Community, with the album carrying the same name. Joining Yokota we have guitarist Kimio Mizutani, excellent organist Yosuke Hoguchi, bassist Kimio Koizumi, percussionists Fujio Saito, Larry Sunaga, Minoru Ishiyama, Pedro Umemura, Tadaomi Anai and Yoshinori Nohmi. And on drums we have Chito Kawachi. On track 2 we have the legendary trumpeter Terumasa Hino. 

Favorites here would be the opening "Forbidden Ritual", which develops quite nicely after the opening non-lyrical vocals. "Hare Krishna" is also pretty good. All in all a pretty cool album. 

I hope you dig!

Walter Bishop Jr. - Part 3

Hey there. Back again to finish up our look into NYC keyboardist, Walter Bishop Jr. 

First for today we have the album that was originally recommended to me: Cubicle. A mostly soul jazz/jazz-funk affair, joining Walter on the 1978 release, we have: Rene McClean and Pepper Adams on sax, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Randy Brecker on trumpet and flugelhorn, Joe Caro on guitar, Bob Cranshaw and Mark Egan on electric bass, Ray Mantilla on percussion with the legend Billy Hart on drums. We also have Carmen Lundy on vocals on the opening tune, "Valley Land." I've included an instrumental for this one. 

Not really a weakness on this one, but "Valley Land", "Those Who Chant" and another rendition of "Summertime" are my favorites here. We get to hear Bishop heavily on the Rhodes on this one which is always welcomed. 

The following year, in 1979, Bishop returned to a more straight-ahead sound on Hot House. This time around we have Junior Cook on tenor, Bill Hardman on trumpet, Sam Jones on bass with Al Foster on drums. Nothing wrong with this record but as I've mentioned before, just not my first choice in sound.

Lastly, we have another straight-ahead album. This time from 1993, Speak Low Again features Paul Brown on bass and Al Harewood on drums. Bishop plays quite a few of his staple tunes on this one. Again, nothing but good stuff here - I just prefer the soul-jazz and jazz-funk/fusion sound WBJ employed on a few of the other albums we covered.

Walter Bishop Jr. - Part 2

Back again to continue our look into NYC keyboardist, Walter Bishop Jr. 

Immediately out of the gate, our first album shifts from the straight ahead sound we've heard so far to something closer to fusion and jazz-funk. Released as Walter Bishop Jr.'s 4th Cycle, Keeper Of My Soul was released in 1973, again on the Black Jazz Records label. 

We have a quintet on this one and joining Walter we have the great Ronnie Laws on flute and sax, Woody Murray on vibes, Gerald Brown on bass, Shakur Abdulla on percussion with Bahir Hassan on drums. 

All originals here aside from another rendition of "Summertime" and "Blue Bossa", both which feature great play from Bishop on the organ. "Soul Village", the title track and "Sweet Rosa" are all fantastic tunes. The addition of Brown on electric bass and hearing Bishop on a variety of electric keyboards is a welcomed change for me. Excellent album through and through. 

The next album I have here was released 4 years later, in 1977, on Muse Records. Soul Village might be my favorite album of the bunch. With the addition of a guitarist they've leaned into the jazz-funk/fusion sound we heard on the previous album.

Please check the link if you're interested in personnel, Randy Brecker and Steve Kahn are the only names I recognize on the list. It appears to be mostly session guys. More excellent stuff here with "Soul Turnaround", "Philadelphia Bright" (!!!) and the title track being my personal favorites. The addition of a percussionist on these last two albums adds a very nice layer to me. Another great album. 

The same year, Walter released a straight-ahead, trio album on the East Wind label. Old Folks features Sam Jones on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. Nothing wrong with this record, I just prefer the electric sound from our first two albums. The opening Manha de Carnaval/Black Orpheus would be my favorite tune here. A standard I enjoy quite a bit. 

Enjoy!! I have one more post for WBJ. 

Walter Bishop Jr.

Walter Bishop Jr was a NYC-born keyboardist who worked with a wide variety of household names in jazz. Someone recommended an album of his to me at some point and I was pleasantly surprised. Turns out I've heard Walter play plenty of times on various Charlie Parker and Miles Davis albums. Other big names you'll find in his credits are Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, and a host of others. I do not have a full discography here but we do have quite a few to look into.

The first album I have here was originally released in 1961 which lately is a little out of my wheelhouse. Lending support to Walter on Speak Low, we have Jimmy Garrison on bass and G.T. Hogan on drums. All covers here, but a nice little straight-ahead trio album, nonetheless. This copy is the 2008 reissue which includes 3 additional tunes. Favorites here are "Milestones" and the title track, "Speak Low." 

Next up comes the album titled 1965, named after the year it was recorded, or so I thought. Other versions have sessions in 1962 and 1963 listed. Either way, not released on Prestige until 1970, we have another acoustic, trio album. This time on bass we have Butch Warren and on drums we have Jimmy Cobb. There are some discrepancies regarding personnel, as well. But I'm sticking to what I found initially.

Sixteen mostly brief tunes on this one, and more of the same sound as we heard on Speak Low. Favorites here would be "Theme For A Legend" and "Love For Sale." We also here Walter's first rendition of "Summertime." A recurring tune throughout Walter's catalog.

The following year, in 1971, Bishop released Coral Keys on the Black Jazz Records label. This time, we have Reggie Johnson on bass, Harold Vick on flute, bass clarinet, tenor and soprano saxes, Woody Shaw on trumpet, Idris Muhammad (side A) and Allan Schwartzberg (side B) on drums. 

This one is listed as all originals from Bishop, but I haven't dug in to see if that's accurate or not. All good stuff here for the most part. A little more pizazz than we heard on the first two albums, mostly thanks to Shaw and Vick. "Track Down" is a good one here and I also dig "Soul Turn Around." "Freedom Suite" closes this one and is a bit "free" as the title suggests. 

I have a handful of more albums to cover, and in my opinion, they get more interesting as we go. Stay tuned. 

Bennie Maupin - Penumbra (2006)

Hey there. Been travelling a lot this week so I haven't had time to knock out a post. Today we're going to take a quick peek at another album from reeds-savant Bennie Maupin. We took a deeper at Bennies' albums during our time looking into Herbie Hancock.

Released on Cryptogramophone in 2006 as the Bennie Maupin Ensemble, Penumbra features Polish bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz, percussionist Munyungo Jackson and drummer Michael Stephans.  As usual, Bennie employs the bass clarinet, tenor and soprano saxes and the bass flute. According to discogs he also plays a little piano here on the closing tune "Equal Justice." 14 tracks on this one and mostly calm vibes throughout. Some tunes are very short and some are solo Bennie tunes too. 

Favorites here would be "Message To Prez", "See The Positive" and "The 12th Day", despite being a pretty short tune. Overall a pretty solid album albeit with some noodling here and there. I have a few things planned for upcoming posts so stay tuned. 

Enjoy!