Terumasa Hino - 1970s

Hey there. Back today with our first installment into Terumasa Hino's 1970s catalog. Hino recorded a massive amount of albums throughout the decade. Many were released in the same year. I haven't tried to keep any chronological order outside of the year it was released. 

One quick note regarding the files themselves: Occasionally you'll see an mp3 folder inside an album's folder. This is due to certain flac files being too large to be uploaded to YouTube Music, which is the app I use for music. If you don't use YTM, this probably is a non-issue for you. Anyway, let's get to it.

To begin the new decade, we have our first taste of free jazz with 1970’s Journey To Air. One tune per side listed as “Journey To Air 1” & “Journey To Air 2” and based on personnel, this looks to be 2 groups that may have recorded on separate occasions. On sax we have Gary Pribec, PeteYellin, Dave Liebman & Steve Grossman, with Grossman and Yellin also playing flute. On bass we have Dave Holland, Lanny Fields and personal favorite, Teruo Nakamura. On drums we again have Moto and also Bobby Moses. An additional trumpeter is here in Olu Dara and we also have Mike Garson on piano.

At a different time in my life I really dug free jazz but it’s not as much my go-to as it once was. This one isn’t too scattered with side b being a littler tamer than side a. Not a bad album by any means, especially if you dig this sound.

Next, and also released in 1970, is Alone Together. Recorded in NYC, joining Hino on trumpet and flugelhorn, we have Steve Grossman on soprano and tenor. An excellent player we’ve encountered a few times and on the previous album. We also have Harold Mabern on keys, Richard Davis on bass with Moto on drums.

Not as scattered as our previous listen, but more of a post-bop sound I guess. After an excellent rendition of the standard, title tune on side A, we have Hino originals on side B in, “Satsuki” and “Make Left.” My favorite here is “Satsuki” which features great play from Grossman and Mabern.

Also released in 1970, and I think my first encounter with Hino, is Into The Heaven. Another Quintet album here with Hiromasa Suzuki on keys, Takeru Muraoka on sax, Kunimitsu Inaba on bass and Moto on drums. There are some discrepancies on track listings but what I show are all originals here with side A being the title track with side B being “Feeling Blue As You Are Feel” and “Circus.”

The opening, title tune might be our best composition yet from Hino. Starts off very nicely and develops a nice tempo with Hino and Suzuki complementing one another. Muraoka enters about halfway through and also plays terrifically. After a quick Suzuki part the band joins all in to close this one out. Great tune. “Feeling Blue” is a very nice straight-ahead, walking tune with great playing across the board. We close with the ballad “Circus” and we have a great album in the books.

We move into 1971 for our next release in live album Hino AtBerlin Jazz Festival ’71. A slightly new look here with a quintet made up of Takao Uematsu on saxophone, Kiyoshi Sugimoto on guitar, Yoshio Ikeda on bass with Moto on drums.

Mostly freer stuff here again and an overall great performance. Personal favorite here would be the third tune, “Ode To Workman” with Sugimoto giving it a psych-rock vibe during his solo. And we’re on to the next.

Love Nature is next for us and also released in 1971. Another US recording for Hino and joining him we have the great Gary Bartz on sax, Sugimoto on guitar, another great in Reggie Workman on bass with Eric Gravatt on drums.

I would describe this one as hard bop leaning into free jazz. It’s scattered at times but also still maintains some swing. Bartz plays hard, as does Hino. Sugimoto plays quite nicely on side b, “Sister Mayumi.” We also get to hear Moto open up on drums a bit.

That’s our first 5 from the 1970s and we’ll leave it there for now. I’ll be back with the next 5 very soon.