Cheers! is the happy-go-lucky title of pianist Saki Ozawa’s debut release from 2023. It’s a fitting greeting as an introduction to this set as one that is pleasantly nimble and widely lighthearted in style. The merriment of this statement begins even from the front cover image: a fun shot of the smiling pianist in an illustrated setting with friendly-looking characters including happy drinkers, a cat on a couch, and a duck with a backstory. ...
Appreciation is pianist and composer Naoko Tanaka’s 2022 jazz release, her latest in a series of exciting new albums from young Japanese musicians. Several of her previous leader albums (Home, I Fall In Love Too Easily, Memories) featured her piano trio as a trio, which Appreciation also does. But this release also brings in the expert sounds of horn players Yoshiro Okazaki (trumpet), Takayuki Sato (alto sax), and Mabumi Yamaguchi (tenor sax) for three songs. In the rhythm section with the sparkling star are her regular trio members Koji Yasuda on bass and Masanori Ando on drums. ...
Memory Stones is the 2014 album from guitarist Hiroshi Fukutomi, his second album after his debut Rings of Saturn (2010). On this 57-minute recording of Fukutomi’s original music, the guitarist leads a quartet featuring Koichi Sato on piano and Rhodes, Koji Yasuda on bass, and Ryo Noritake on drums. With Fukutomi’s compositions and his guitar taking center stage, the quartet’s sound is definitely that of a jazz guitar leader’s band. The sound of the jazz guitar is varied, however, and his tone switches between mellow and fluid electric guitar sound to clear and articulate acoustic guitar, coloring the compositions with distinct personalities to suit the song style. Some guitar effects are also used tastefully to add textural layers while preserving the core sound of pure guitar expressiveness. ...
The twinkling chords which open Ami Fukui’s debut album Urban Clutter from 2010 shine like a crystalline spotlight, signaling the immediately satisfying sounds and clean, uncomplicated feel-good grooves of the music to come. This first album from the jazz pianist lays down the groundwork for Fukui to showcase her compositional skills for jazz piano trio, which she will explore further on her follow-up albums Amizm (2013) and New Journey (2016). ...
A satisfyingly neat outing, Naoko Tanaka Trio’s Memories (2015) leaves a fresh impression of modern Japanese jazz trios. The playing on this album is both playful and precise, with considered arrangements and decorations sprinkled through the welcoming music. Light touches and coordinated rhythmic hits play a role, hinting at styles employed by greats such as the Ahmad Jamal Trio. Attention is paid to the structure of each song, and as with any good jazz record, those structures are filled out with each soloist’s improvisations, bouncing solos off the harmonic movements and the rhythmic frames. ...
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. ...
Yasumasa Kumagai’s debut album from 2008, I Need a Change, Too, establishes his J Jazz hip hop concept with force: From the shocking pink cover art and the unexpected electronic soulful beats of the brief opening track “I.N.T.R.O.”, the album takes thrilling twists and turns through jazz laced with groove, centered on a powerfully soulful and vibrant modern jazz piano trio. Fun and catchy but with a serious musical depth, the music covers both cool and bittersweet moods, at times evoking influences from Robert Glasper’s style of gospel-inspired hip-hop jazz. Kumagai’s songwriting skill and precision playing make for a high-quality J Jazz album, full of soul and passion rooted in authentic jazz with ultra-modern sharpness. ...
Takako Yamada’s The Flow of Time features 11 original compositions from the pianist, a bold collection of exciting moods and modern compositions in adventurous style. Starting assertively with a modern jazz/rock feel, electric guitar and acoustic piano lay out high opening stakes for an album filled with dramatic creativity. The songs explore moments of musical sensitivity, relaxed swing, Monkish joy and freedom, and bluesy contemplation, with full sounds of crystal piano tones, warm electric guitar, bright drum work and deep, dark bass anchoring the group sound. ...
Drummer Ko Omura leads the listener on his voyage of introspection on his debut album Introspect, portraying the colors and maps of his musical mind. This 2011 recording features eight tracks: six original songs from Omura in his detailed, catchy style, unfolding story-like with depth and groovy accuracy. The music brims with fiery energy, passionate yet also containing also a smoldering, somber melancholy. Two of the tracks are group-created free jazz collaborations, splashes of color adding mystery and adventure. The recorded audio is also done beautifully, with separation of drums and cymbals gracefully captured with a lush live sound. ...
Flowers On The Hill is a beautiful album of tender and impeccably delivered music from the vocalist Akiko Suda. The album features lovely original compositions together with jazz, bossa nova, and pop standards performed artistically with creative arrangements. The talented musicians play sensitively and at times sound like a Brad Mehldau-inspired modern jazz piano trio, creating a lush background for Suda’s masterful voice. The album starts strongly with four catchy and elaborate originals penned by Suda and pianist Yuichi Narita, then moves into jazz and pop territory. Novel versions of “Waters of March”, “Doralice”, Chick Corea’s “Crystal Silence”, and the jazz standards “How About You” and “What a Wonderful World” fill out the middle of the tracklist. The album closes sweetly with two pop songs, Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird” and Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today”, a pairing perfectly matched with the band’s modern, affectionate mood. ...