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!