Sumito Oi: Sumitty & The Funfair

Tue, 06 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Sumitty & the Funfair is a 2015 release from drummer Sumito Oi and his band of merry music makers, assembling here to produce an original work of creatively poppy jazz. Not circus clown tomfoolery, but, rather, light and glittery music played with a cheerful buoyancy and sensitivity by improvisational jazz musicians. The theme is musical fun, wide-smiled mirth carried by a sweet nostalgia for amusement park ambiance.

As a drummer’s quartet, rhythm moderates the music delightfully, propulsive but never overpowering. Flutes with electric and acoustic instruments add evocative flavors, leading us through the fair and summoning musical images like childhood memories.

Akiko Suda: Flowers On The Hill

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

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.

小林豊美 on Jazz of Japan | Brian McCrory

Sumito Oi: Sumitty & The Funfair

Akiko Suda: Flowers On The Hill