石川早苗

This special release from Baby Brothers, entitled Happy Christmas with Bb (side b, the final live at plug and more), warmly celebrates the holidays and commemorates the vocal quintet’s final performance in 2007, layering bittersweet emotions with abundantly joyful singing and expression. The album starts with eight tracks performed and recorded in concert. This live portion features the a capella quintet using their voices in beautiful harmony with charming arrangements from their repertoire including the classic jazz standard “My Favorite Things”, some jazzy soul and pop selections, and three well-known Japanese songs. ...

Fever is the 2014 debut release from Trigraph, a band that takes an eclectic approach to their music, focusing on jazz and pop while incorporating various genres and instruments into their music. The core group is the talented trio of musicians Sanae Ishikawa on vocals, Takayoshi Baba on guitar, and Reikan Kobayashi on shakuhachi and other instruments. Two additional musicians fill out the group for this recording, electric fretless bassist Ryoji Orihara, and drummer Yasushi Fukumori. ...

The living music from vocal a cappella groups can be inspiring and soothing in turbulent times, with voices layered in harmony and synchronized timing for direct connections with each other and the audience. The five-piece group Baby Brothers from Tokyo released their debut Bb in 2007 with their well-arranged jazz, R&B, and hymn-like traditionals. With only their voices and no other instruments, the quality of vocal organic vibrations can powerfully connect with reassuring joy through a skillful, very human communal experience. ...

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. ...

Tokyo-based jazz singer Sanae Ishikawa sings from her heart, presenting her full, confident voice on choice jazz standards with her 2007 debut Feel Like Makin’ Love. Her beautiful, crystal-clear delivery resonates with an easy joyfulness and charm, yet can also reflect depths of dramatic emotion to moving effect. Building on the strength of her veteran backup musicians, her innate jazz timing elevates the performance and welcomes the listener straight into the music. ...