Masabumi Kikuchi - Part 3

Back again with our next look into Masabumi Kikuchi.

First up for today is the 1971 release, All About Dancing Mist. As you can guess, this is a variety of renditions of Kikuchi's signature tune. There are various personnel lineups for each tune. Mostly names we've encountered so far. Please check the link if you'd like a proper breakdown. Double LP here so we have nearly 90 minutes of "Dancing Mist."

Great stuff here. I really enjoy Mine's playing on track 2, as well as Kikuchi's Rhodes play on track 3. I also dig the Poll Winners track which features 3 sax players, Mine, Sadao Watanabe and Takeru Muraoka. I dig the shredding of the guitar by Yoshiaki Masuo, who will be the subject of a future post eventually.

Next for us is the 1972 release, With Gil Evans. If you're unfamiliar, Evans was a highly acclaimed pianist, composer and bandleader. This album has a big band vibe to it which I was slightly skeptical about. Absolutely great recording. The personnel list for this one is massive so please check the link if you're interested. I might never get anything else done if I link every player. 

Hardly a weak spot on this one. "Thoroughbred" is excellent; as is "Priestess." Honestly this one is stellar from start to finish.

Next for us is our first OST. Hairpin Circus was released in 1972 and features familiar faces again supporting Kikuchi. We have Mine on sax, Suzuki on bass, Masahiro Kikuchi on organ, Hino and Nakamura on drums. 

The main theme starts us off and "Circus" has a similar tempo as "Dancing Mist." Great stuff throughout on this one. "Luna Eclipse ~ Lamentation" features great playing from Mine and "Pierrot's Samba" is also quite nice. The group reprises the main theme to close us out. Another solid album in the books.

Next for us is the 1973 release, Hollow Out. A trio album recorded at the Van Gelder Studio featuring famed drummer Elvin Jones with Gene Perla on bass. All Kikuchi originals here and the opening and closing tunes, "Apple" and "Hollow Out", stand out here for me. The middle of the album is a little too tame for me. 

Last album for today is the 1973 release, End For The Beginning. Again, familiar personnel here. Murakami is on drums, Mine on soprano sax, Suzuki on bass with Hideo Miyata also on tenor sax and flute. This one is listed as being recorded at Kikuchi's Victor Studio in Tokyo but there is obvious applause in between tunes. Perhaps a studio audience?

We again have all originals from Kikuchi and this one starts off wonderfully with "Drizzling Rain." I also really dig "Admire, But Detest" and the closing tune "Green Dance" is also solid, which Mine kills. A nice group of albums, here.

I have a few more to go so stay tuned!

Masabumi Kikuchi - Part 2

Back again with our next installment in keyboardist Masabumi Kikuchi. 

First for today is a 1970 release from the Gary Peacock Trio. Peacock was an American bassist who recorded Eastward in Japan with Kikuchi on piano and Hiroshi Murakami on drums. Mostly straight ahead stuff here. "Nanshi" is a nice, soft tune with Kikuchi playing quite nicely. "Moor" has a little more of a pulse than the rest of the record, as well. Nothing here to blow you away but a nice little trio album, nonetheless.

Next up for us is our first live album. In Concert features some of the faces we saw yesterday. I won't link every player for time's sake. On sax we have Mine, on the organ we have Masahiro Kikuchi, Ikeda is on bass, Kishida is on percussion and Murakami is on drums. 

Only 2 tunes here - both in the 20-minute range. Signature tune "Dancing Mist" is here along with a tune I quite enjoy in "Yellow Carcass In The Blue." Mine plays great and the organ is a really nice sound. Murakami has an excellent drum solo near the end of the first tune. Despite "Yellow" have a slower tempo than "DM", it's still an excellent tune. Mine and Masabumi both play beautifully. 

Next we have the same trio from Eastward returning with the addition of Hozan Yamamoto on shakuhachi. I have this album listed as Ginkai, which translates to Silver World. Many releases of this one carry the Silver World title. Released in 1971, this one didn't quite grab my attention until "Sawonose" which has the most tempo of all the tunes on the album. I really dig the bamboo flute sound, this one just is a little too tame for me. 

Next up we have another live album, again titled In Concert. This time, we have tenor giant Joe Henderson, Kohsuke Mine on alto and soprano saxes, Terumasa Hino on trumpet, Yoshio Suzuki on bass, with Hiroshi Murakami and Yoshiyuki Nakamura on drums. You'll be hard pressed to find a more talented group.

3 lengthy tunes here and we start with the Henderson tune "Sunrise In Tokyo" and everyone plays wonderfully. Next up is the tune "So What" from little known trumpeter Miles Davis. The closing tune "Get Magic Again" is a little scattered but overall a nice live album.

Final album for today is the 1971 release, Poesy: The Man Who Keeps Washing His Hands. Quite the title. Trio album here with Gary Peacock on bass and Masahiko Togashi on drums and percussion. All originals from within the group on this one. 

This album is cut from the same cloth as "Get Magic Again" that we heard on the previous release. A little too much noodling for my liking but "Aspiration" is a nice tune. Not one I revisit very often but if you dig scattered sound, it might be for you. 

Enjoy!

Masabumi Kikuchi

Hey everyone. Today we are going to begin our deep dive into famed Japanese pianist, Masabumi Kikuchi. Born in Tokyo in 1939, Kikuchi recorded music until his death in 2015. Along the way, we'll encounter tons of names in Japanese jazz which will undoubtedly lead us to new albums to explore. I have quite a few to share so I'll try to keep it quick on each release. There are some discrepancies on order of releases so I'll do my best to stay in order. Let's get to it.

First up for us is the 1969 release, Matrix. Originally released as the Modern Victor Jazz Sextet, it was eventually re-released as the Masabumi Kikuchi Sextet. The name references the Chick Corea tune which opens the album. Joining Masabumi we have trumpeter Tetsuo Fushimi, alto saxophonist Hideyuki Kikuchi, tenor saxophonist Akio Nishimura, bassist Hironori Takiya and drummer Takahiro Suzuki. 

Mostly straight ahead stuff here. The 2 originals from Kikuchi, "Little Abi", which features great play from the other Kikuchi, and "In The Fourth Way", are excellent. As is the Sadao Watanabe tune "If I Said The Sky Was Falling." Good stuff all around to kick us off. 

Next up for us, also released in 1969, is the Hino=Kikuchi Quintet album by the same name. As expected, the Hino here refers to trumpeter Terumasa Hino (the subject of our next deep dive) and alongside Hino and Kikuchi we have Takeru Muraoka on sax, Kunimitsu Inaba on bass and brother to Terumasa, Motohiko Hino on drums. 

A mostly chill vibe on this one. Pretty straight ahead with great playing from the group as a whole. I really dig "Ideal Portrait" and "Long Trip" is also a nice tune. 

Next up is the 1970 release, Re-Confirmation. We have some familiar faces supporting here in saxophonist Kohsuke Mine, bassist Yoshio Ikeda, fellow keyboardist Masahiro Kikuchi, and drummers Keiji Kishida and Hiroshi Murakami. 

A little more tempo on this one and as expected, Mine plays beautifully throughout. Especially on "Love Token." I also really dig the closing tune, "Young Blood."

Next for us and also released in 1970, we have the album, Poo-Sun. Purely speculating but Masabumi's nickname was Poo. So I'm curious if this should have been titled, Poo-San. Either way, we have a great album here. 

Joining here we again have Kohsuke Mine on sax and Ikeda on bass. We also have Murakami and Hino on drums with Kishida on percussion. We have an additional keyboardist in Hideo Ichikawa lending support. 

This one starts off wonderfully with Kikuchi signature tune, "Dancing Mist." We'll hear this one a few times as we go. More of a fusion vibe on this one which I welcome, no doubt. Mine also brought along his soprano sax which is one of my favorite sounds in jazz. Excellent stuff here. "Yellow Carcass In The Blue" is a nice tune followed by another solid tune in "Puzzle Ring." One of the best albums in the catalog, in my opinion. 

Last for today we have a 1970 album titled, Collaboration, which you guessed it, is a collaboration between the Masabumi Kikuchi Sextet and the Sadao Watanabe Quartet. Joining Kikuchi and Watanabe we again have Mine on sax, Masahiro Kikuchi on keys, Ikeda on bass, Kishida on percussion and Murakami on drums. We also have personal favorite guitarist Yoshiaki Masuo, excellent bassist Yoshio Suzuki and drummer Hiro Tsunoda. 

Double LP here so we have nearly 90 minutes of jazz. "Illusion" starts us off quite well and is a touch busier than we've heard so far. "Up Tight" is another solid tune with great soprano play from Mine. "Lunar Eclipse" is another rock solid tune here. Another highlight here would be "Hiro" which features great playing from Masuo. Looks like this copy is missing the final tune, "Thanatos Take 1." I'll see if I can it elsewhere. 

Enjoy!

Takeshi Inomata - Part 2

Hey there. Back again with our next post on drummer Takeshi Inomata. 

First up we have the 1971 release, Innocent Canon. One thing of note is that there is a lot of talking over a few of the tunes. Also quite a bit of grunting, etc. from Inomata at one point during a drum solo. I've included a second copy where I've tried to remove as much as possible. 

Joining Inomata here we again have guitarist Kimio Mizutani, flautist Toshiyaki Yokota, bassist Jun Suzuki and trumpeter Shunzo Ohno. We also have trumpeter Takehisa Suzuki, trombonist and vibraphonist Shigemichi Domoto, saxophonist Jake Concepcion, keyboardist Shigehito Ohara and percussionist Osamu Nakajima. 

More of the same here in the jazz-rock sense. "Go For Nothing" is a good tune with some nice playing from Mizutani, Concepcion and Inomata. "Child & I" is also solid with some great playing from Ohara. Best tune here might be "Alone" which is the closest to hard bop we've heard thus far. Concepcion plays wonderfully on the soprano sax. 

Next for us is the 1972 release on Columbia, Drum Method. This one only has the Sound Limited backing band along with Inomata in the personnel notes. Going to assume we essentially have the same group since it's been pretty consistent. Mostly covers on this one with the biggest highlights being the Norio Maeda tunes "Sleeper" and "Seven Four." I of course dig the rendition of Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" as well. 

The last album for Inomata I have is The Dialogue. Released in 1977, here we have duos for the tune "The Dialogue" with different instruments for each version. On bass we have Yasuo Arakawa, on percussion we have Makoto Aruga, on vibes we have Ichiro Masuda, on flute we have Toshiaki Yokota, on guitar we have Shohju Yokouchi, on tenor sax we have Kohnosuke Saijoh and finally on trombone we have the great Shigeharu Mukai. 

Favorites here are the flute, tenor sax and trombone tunes. Good stuff. 

Enjoy! I have a couple of deep dives in store so stay tuned.

-CK

Takeshi Inomata

Finally back and ready to take a look into drummer Takeshi Inomata. A catalog chocked full of jazz-rock gems, I have a few albums to share. Takeshi first started playing professionally at the young age of 16 years old. Looks like he first popped up on some compilations in 1956. We will begin our journey closer to my wheelhouse in 1970. 

Sound LTD. was released on the Express label as Takeshi Inomata and Sound Limited. Supporting him here are some excellent musicians in guitarists Ryo Kawasaki and Shigenori Kamiya, trumpeters Shunzo Ohno and Takashi Kumagai, trombonists Shigemichi Domoto and Takashi Imai, flautist Toshiaki Yokota, saxophonist Takao Uematsu, organist Yusuke Hoguchi and bassist Jun Suzuki. 

We'll hear a lot of covers as we go and this one is no exception. This one starts off wonderfully with the first full tune, "South California Purples." It has a bluesy, soulful jazz-rock feel to it with the organ and sax standing out. "It Better End Soon" is also another good one - both from Chicago keyboardist Robert Lamm. A nice rendition of classic, "God Bless The Child" is also here. With a nice change midway through. 

One other thing to point out is that "Pacific C-55" is a mostly forgettable track but does feature a full on train whistle at the beginning of the tune. Something to keep in mind if you're listening late at night, etc. Overall, a pretty solid album.

Next up for us, released on Columbia again in 1970, we have Sounds Of Sound LTD. The same band returns and this time around we have all originals from within the group. Only exception being the excellent "Monster" which is a Norio Maeda tune; a pianist Inomata has worked with who also handled some of the arrangement for the previous album. 

This one jumps right out of the gate with "Theme - Mustache" which has a nice groove to it and channels a little "Hey Jude" towards the end. Also includes a nice drum solo from Inomata. Imai tune "Joint" is also solid with the same bluesy groove we've heard a lot of. We get a little more scattered on "Scotland Scene" before a peaceful close with "Theme." Another pretty solid outing. 

The 3rd album we'll listen to today is from 1971, again released on Express and titled, New Rock In Europe - Sound LTD. 2. The same band returns with the exception of guitarist Kimio Mizutani replacing Ryo Kawasaki. 

This one starts off with one of my pet peeves of jazz: Beatles covers. "Something" is a tune I've seen a few times on Japanese jazz albums. If you're a Beatles fan, you might enjoy it. In my opinion, this one doesn't really start until about the midway point of "Mustache." "Barabajagal" might be the best tune here and features a great Inomata drum solo. "Hurdy Gurdy Man" features great playing from Yokoto on flute but the track abruptly ends. Likely a problem with this copy. "Greensleeves" follows and while we've all heard this tune a million times, Uematsu plays wonderfully on the soprano sax on this rendition. Good stuff. 

I have 3 more albums to share. Stay tuned. Enjoy!