Glamorous Osaka-based singer Maki Fujimura enraptures the audience with her silky voice and energetic improvisation on this live album recorded at the intimate Tokyo jazz bar “Apple Jump”. Going by “The Duo!” together with the amazing pianist Hideaki Hori, the two musicians expertly create music with pulse, Fujimura building upon and playing with Hori’s rhythmic timing and impeccable pianistic touch, with her soft yet strong vocals gliding around the piano’s notes in perfect interplay. ...

Tokuhiro Doi’s Amalthea from 2011 presents a modern jazz quartet from Japan led by the evocative tones of jazz clarinet. Although jazz clarinet can prompt thoughts of bouncy big bands and classic swing music, this album veers more towards dark and mysterious shades that will interest fans of creative modern jazz. Doi’s mature compositions embrace the sounds of jazz in various settings: mid-tempo walking jazz, energetic and frenetic jazz, and elegiac European classical sounds. Like many other modern recordings, facets of bebop, hard-bop, and cool jazz influences also surface effortlessly in the soulful music. ...

Enterprising singer Sanae Ishikawa presents us with her passionate voice on Grown-up Christmas Gift from 2018, a mini-album celebrating classic and modern Christmas songs in a jazz and pop setting. As part of her successful Seasonal Japanese Songbook Project crowdfunding, the popular singer released this album along with her full-length album 冬-Winter- to great anticipation, just in time for the Christmas season that year. 春-Spring- (2019) and 夏-Summer- (2020) have also been released in this jazzy J-pop series, with a hope of seeing 秋-Autumn- in the not-too-distant future. ...

Although it may seem overly-ambitious to reinvent the classic 1961 Bill Evans Trio live recordings Waltz for Debby and Sunday At The Village Vanguard, pianist Taihei Asakawa boldly takes that challenge on his deeply fascinating and atmospheric avant-garde solo piano recording Waltz for Debby. Performed live for an audience in 2018, the material and mood are compelling: introspective and patient, occasionally decorated with flights of vibrant melody, constantly summoning emotion from the notes released from the beautifully-recorded piano. ...

Jazz pianist and composer Fumie Chiba’s Tip of Dream is a great example of modern jazz piano from Japan, displaying high-caliber technique and creative approaches to modern jazz composition. Through the album’s eight tracks, Chiba plays with confidence and verve, showing shades of McCoy Tyner’s rapid abstractions, Bills Evans’ melodic sentimentality, and Mulgrew Miller’s well-rounded fluency and swinging groove. The set starts off strong with “11th Door” which quickly demonstrates the control and power that this trio delivers. The performance is sleek and modern, at times aggressively powerful yet not lacking a sensitive touch and deep energy. From the attention-grabbing opening, the music moves into pretty ballads, lyrical sentimentality with modern flourishes, Herbie Hancock-style funky jazz, and finishes with a piano solo with balanced pop prettiness. ...

Inspired by a modern, clean European jazz sound, the jazz piano trio Trispace on their debut 2010 album brings to mind modern jazz along the lines of Swedish jazz supergroup Esbjörn Svensson Trio (EST). Focused in concept, Trispace plays with delicate, beautifully recorded instruments, airy jazz-rock beats, and occasional odd-beat rhythmic structures that carry the listener along on comfortable musical journeys. Even the stylishly serene jacket design conveys the intended atmosphere, perhaps paying homage to the great modern jazz recordings from the ECM label visually as well as aurally. ...

Pianist Michiyo Matsushita’s Sally Gardens is a lively solo piano album featuring original compositions set against a few Irish folk songs and jazz standards. Through the rich, evocative style of folk music (“Sally Gardens”, “Paddy Ryan’s Dream”), Matsushita’s playing is sweet and comforting, enhanced with fascinating reharmonizations and arrangements. The two jazz standards (“Liza”, “Segment”) impressively show various sides of Matsushita’s jazz playing, with elements of classical, bebop, stride, and other facets of piano surfacing in exciting contrasts. ...

Sakura Meditation from pianist Seiji Endo is a gorgeous collection of evocative solo piano pieces. Through the ten tracks, Endo searches for and finds the perfect phrases and dramatic touches to draw out emotion from his beautiful and pure compositions. Most of the songs are just three to five minutes long with strains of classical and slightly jazzy influences surface in the music. The music deeply evokes feelings ranging from pretty etude-like sketches to the childlike innocence of a lullaby, to pieces overflowing with romantic drama and emotional depth. Endo’s poetic style and his passion are directly focused through a soft touch and breath-like pulse: simplicity and brevity through understated effectiveness. ...

At times light and carefree, yet also deeply and seriously musical, Sayaka Kishi’s “pure music” spirit shines beautifully on Colors. While the pianist is a vibrant part of many collaborations covering standard jazz, pop, classical, and Latin fusion among others, here with her group Sayaketts the trio focuses on a fusion of electric funky jazz and R&B pop music amid calmer moments and heart-warming pop-styled piano jazz. About half of the 13 songs on this album are upbeat, funky, and energized with the sounds of keyboards, piano, electric bass, and drums: glittery music full of energetic live and rock beats. Aside from the fun jams, other songs are charmingly cute and positive (“Iris”, “GAME”) with others crafted to be deeply serious and dramatic scene-stealing compositions (“Dilemma”, “Tegami”, “Toki No Itazura”, “Guzen No Waltz”). While the mood shifts are frequent, the variety of colors explored leaves a rich and lasting impression of fun, welcoming, and engaging music. ...