Terumasa Hino - 1970s - Part 6

Back again with our final 3 from the 1970s for Terumasa Hino. 

We’re starting to get a little funky in 1978 as we inch closer to fusion with Hip Seagull. We again have John Scofield on guitar, old friend Kohsuke Mine on tenor and soprano saxes, Mickey Masuda on keys, Clint Houston on bass, M'tume on percussion with Moto and George Otsuka on drums. We also have Kimiko Kasai and Tawatha lending some vocals.

The title track opens here and once it develops we have a nice funky rhythm from Scofield and Houston on bass. It changes about halfway through with Mine playing wonderfully with Houston playing at a feverish pace. We get a nice drum solo here as well, and based on playing style, I’m assuming this is Otsuka rather than Moto.

The incredibly smooth (and silky, not smooth jazz) “This Planet Is Ours” follows and we hear the vocalists with some non-lyrical harmonizing to start us off before Hino dives in. More great bass play from Houston here and lucky for us, Mine brought the soprano along. I did not make an instrumental here b/c the vocals are quite pleasant and don’t take away from the tune, in my opinion.

We have more phrasing from the vocalists on relatively soft “Fall” and we close this one out with “Life Trip” which once developed, turned out to be a great tune. You can really feel the presence of M’tume here, with Masuda also playing terrifically.

Next up for us is a live record, and instantly one of my favorite recordings we’ve listened to so far. 1978’s Wheel Stone - Live In Nemuro features Hideo Miyata on tenor sax, Kiyoshi Sugimoto on guitar, Fumio Itabashi on keys, Tsutomu Okada on bass with Moto on drums.

Two long, contrasting tunes here with the opener being perfectly paced “Mocco” which features some of the best playing we’ve heard from Hino and Miyata. The crowd reacts as each player solos and it’s just a great feeling all around. “In The Darkness” follows and we get to hear Hino play solo for a few minutes. The tune then develops quite nicely as we round out this great performance.

Next for us is the 1979 release, City Connection. More of a jazz-funk affair, we have a massive personnel list here highlighted by Randy Brecker lending support on trumpet and flugelhorn. For a full list, please check the link.

The tunes here are shorter and more abundant. Super funky stuff and we do have vocals on a few tracks. The title track here is fantastic, as is “Send Me Your Feelings”, one of the songs with vocals. I’ve included an instrumental. Good stuff continues with "High Tide - Manhattan Ecstasy" and the peppy "Samba De La Cruz." The nice ballad "Blue Smiles" closes this one out, a tribute to fellow trumpeter, Blue Mitchell, who passed that year in 1979.

That’s it for the 1970s and maybe pound for pound one of our better posts. We’ll begin the 1980s very soon, for better or worse.