Terumasa Hino - 1970s - Part 4

Let's get to our next 5 for trumpeter Terumasa Hino.

Locked in the vault until 2012 but recorded in 1973 is Mr. Happiness & Slipped Out. Joining Hino we have Masuda on piano, Ikeda on bass, Imamura on percussion with Moto on drums. 

The opening tune “Pre-Dawn” closes quite nicely with Hino playing solo. “Mr. Happiness” follows and once it develops it turns out to be a great tune. Scattered at times, swinging at times. Much like we’ve heard before.

Things slow down a touch as we start Slipped Out with “Feeling Blue As You Feel.” We start off a little clunky with “Slipped Out” which alternates to a break neck speed. This one closes with “Stella By Starlight” and we’re on to the next.

The following year in 1974, Hino returned with Journey Into My Mind. Returning we have Masuda on keys, Uematsu on tenor sax and Moto on drums. We also have Hideo Miyata on flute and tenor sax, Eiji Toki on soprano and alto saxes, Shigeharu Mukai on trombone and Tsutomu Okada on bass.

All originals on this one aside from standard, "My Funny Valentine." An excellent duo between Masuda and Hino of the classic. This one doesn't really take off until the B side. "Reve Provencale" is the highlight here, along with "Sky." The latter swinging more than anything we've heard in a few albums at least, with nice solos from Miyata and Masuda.

1974 also saw the release of Into Eternity. A double LP checking in at a little over 90 minutes. Essentially the same group returns, give or take. We have Masuda on keys, Uematsu and Miyata on sax, Okada on bass, Imamura on percussion with Moto on drums. We also have Isao Suzuki present on bass with bow in hand for "Ode To Workman."

An excellent, albeit long, album here with more of the post-bop, sometimes free, sound we’ve heard throughout the 70s so far. Favorites here would be another rendition of the aforementioned “Ode To Workman” and “Horizon.”

Next for us and released in 1975 is Mas Que Nada, also known as La Chanson d’Orphée. Up to this point, I would describe Hino’s 1970s albums as being very serious jazz. Not always the most accessible and not a lot of what we’ve heard has had much swing to it. Enter this nice little Latin album with Los Robelos and percussionist Masami Kawahara.

Mostly some quick hitting tunes here, we have a very nice rendition of “Summertime”, “The Girl From Ipanema” and “Watermelon Man.” Not a ton of virtuosic playing on this one, but great sounds all around.

Also in 1975, Hino released a live album titled Live in Concert, recorded at the Yuhbinchokin Hall in Tokyo. We have a pretty impressive group of personnel here with Sadao Watanabe on alto sax, Hideo Miyata on tenor sax, Shigeharu Mukai on trombone, Kiyoshi Sugimoto on guitar, Fumio Itabashi on keys, with Akira Okazawa on electric bass, Tsutomu Okada on acoustic bass, Imamura and Masahiko Togashi on percussion with Moto on drums.

Three long tunes here again and we start with Hino originals “Logical Mystery” and “In The Darkness.” We close with “’Round About Midnight.” 

We open with great tempo and Itabashi sets the tone with some nice play on keys. About 5 minutes in it breaks wide open and we might be in the midst of our best moments so far in the catalog. Miyata absolutely screams out of the gate on tenor. Miyata leads to some excellent soloing from Mukai and Sugimoto. All the while Moto is just banging on the drums at his typical feverish pace. Such great stuff here. 

Looks like Miyata played quite a bit with Sadao Watanabe, who also has a massive catalog. I’ll see what I can find to add to the other Sadao albums I have here for a future post.

“In The Darkness” follows and while it tones down the tempo a touch, it’s another great tune with Watanabe playing wonderfully on alto and eventually Hino coming in quite nicely. We close with a nearly solo Hino “’Round About Midnight” and we’re moving right along.

We will break from Terumasa Hino for our next post this week. Stay tuned.