JAPANESE JAZZ recommendations (late 60's thru 70's) Three Blind Mice label, etc.

Going to Tokyo ina few weeks and want to look for some cool Japanese Jazz...I've recently discovered this Japanese Jazz label Three Blind Mice. I have 4 CDs of theirs' and 3 of them are about as good as it gets for the kinda jazz I like (free/spiritual/kosmikgroove/funk jazz) here's what I have:

Teruo Nakamura - Unicorn (Three Blind Mice 1973)
..recorded in NYC w. Steve Grossman, George Cables, Charles Sullivan, Hubert Eaves, Lenny White, Ronald Shannon Jackson, the music is just as great as the cover!
Teusmasa Hino Quintet - Live! (Three Blind Mice 1973)
...really, really great !!!
Naosuke Miyamoto Sextet - Step! (Three Blind Mice 1973)
...features 2 Harold Land covers, outasight!!!!
Takashi Kako - Passage (Art Union 1976)
...free jazz duet with drummer Sabu Toyozumi, like Cecil Taylor

my question is: is there any website for this kind of music or any recommendations on what to get ?? And are there any other labels like TBM to look out for ??? I'll be looking for Takeshi Inomata Sound Ltd. - Drum Methoud & he Sound of, Kiyoshi Sugimoto Quintet - Babylonian Wind , Masahiko Sato & Big Soul Media - Bridge Over Troubled Water, Akira Ishikawa - Back To Rhythm and Jiro Inagaki & His Soul Media - Head Rock...as long as it's nothing past the late seventies and isn't soft trad jazz I'd like any recommendations for this type of music, it's really to hard to figure out anything about it, besides the few that are on the DustyGroove website...thanks !!!

 

There was another label, AUDIO LAB. which captured Japanese Jazz scene in the 70s. Sonically, it is even far better than TBM which IMO merely tried to mimic the sound of Blue Note. AUDIO LAB. was led by the legendary Japanese recording engineer who was in charge of the recording of Keith Jarrett's SUNBEAR CONCERTS for ECM.

AUDIO LAB. shared some musician with TBM, but the musical taste leaned toward being conservative. The recording is top notch at any rate - lively, spatial, dynamic and beautiful. I'm sure you will love it.

The recording engineer's anthology (discography, with the preface by John Eargle) is published with the SACD which includes the stunning recording of Janos Starker (not jazz, of course) along with the tracks by Japanese jazz musicians. See the detail.



Also, The recordings of AUDIO LAB. is available on SACD now.
More on later.

 

I found you have to choose Japanese on the site to see the detail, however, then you can't use the search window as the title is registered only in Japanese. :thumbsdn::thumbsdn::thumbsdn:
So here's the contents of the SACD.

 

How about the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio.

Midnight Sugar and Misty, both are on TBM.

 

The early recordings of the Yosuke Yamashita trio are milestones of Japanese free jazz.
Their album, Mina's Second Theme (1969) and Mokujiki (1970), both with the sax and the percussion, are original, thrilling, emotional and eerily entertaining. Highly recommended.

 

Thks for the links yasujiro.

 

The free jazz reed player, Kaoru Abe is the legend. His intense, dark and somber interpretation is well represented in his unaccompanied album, Mort a Credit.

 

You're asking me?
The albums are highly entertaining I admit. But my fav. album of Yamamoto, did not come from TBM. It is unfortunately long deleted and very rare. Recorded analog in 1984 by the mixer mentioned in the post #2, St.Elmo is the trio album and was released on Black Triangle (Toshiba CP35-5026). More fun and even better sound than the TBM albums (to me no contest!). Now you want it very much, don't you?

 

This is one of the best book on all things related Spiritual Jazz, like all Japanese guides it is well illustrated and most vital info (titles/tracks/musician's names are in english).

I am also a TBM fan, esp. their free/deep stuff. Try Toshiyuki Miyama & The New Herd.

A great comp that ONLY contains their "out" stuff is Shibuya Jazz Classics ~ Nobukazu Takemura TBM Collection



As for the OOP stuff, if you could live with MP3 320k, many great J-Jazz needledrops are avaliable online, you just have to "look".

 

A bit of useless trivia...

Okihiko Sugano is also the Editor of Japanese Stereo Sound, he's like a more talented version of John Atkinson.

 

Shuko Mizuno is a Japanese classical - avant garde composer. He spent 26 years to complete his biggest work 'Symphonic Metamorphoses', a truly gargantuan work that calls for ten conductors and 700+ performers (instrumentalists and vocalists). It is 190 minutes long and the whole movements were performed only once in 1992.

He has been paying attention and great respect to popular music for years and made the 11 jazz works in the 60s and the 70s. Most notable of them are two jazz orchestra compositions with a lot of funk'n rock; 'Jazz Orchestra 73' (1973) and 'Jazz Orchestra 75' (1975). TBM made three albums of the compositions; two studio recordings and a live one.

These were once issued on two separate CDs. I don't know if they're available (probably not). I have the WG CD including JO75 and the half of the live album. I love the big sound of the disc.

 

Japanese Four Brothers from Youtube (1993 performance)
The cats appeared in the albums of TBM and/or Audio Lab.

The personnel
Kisyoshi Yamaya as
Akitoshi Igarashi as
Kohnosuke Saijo ts
Tadayuki Harada bs
Norio Maeda p
Takeshi Inomata ds
Yasuo Arakawa b

And another performace by Saijo from his 1980 album recorded by Sugano.

 

This is the Yosuke Yamashita trio's performance from the Koji Wakamatsu' movie "ecstacy of the angels" of which there was the US DVD. The member of the trio is as same as I introduced in the post #5.



Great film and simply great performance!

 

I have this, great book! Thanks for the suggestions all !

 

I found the Kaoru Abe's legendary performances, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqvwBos9HQk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11dkb7t-yAk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6gyIHldJyg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFvVKhcyBdQ

 

My fave japanese jazz label isn't even TBM, it's East Wind.
Check out:
Kochi "Wishes",
Takehiro Honda "Salaam Salaam",
some Terumasa Hino (he's got tons),
Masabumi Kikuchi "East Wind",
Mikio Masuda "Trace",
Kohsuke Mine "Solid" and "Out of chaos",
Shunzo Ohno "Bubbles" and "Something's coming" <- maximum Headhunters/Herbie effect

Lots of good stuff


cheers,
alex.

 

JFYI, one of the men behind East Wind was Yasohachi Ito, who is now running the 88 label.
His name Yashohachi is literally 88 which came from his birth day, August 8th. BTW, he played the piano (with 88 keys, of course) in the university jazz band.

 

It may be slightly out of the topic but Steve Lacy visited Japan in 1975 and left the five records with stunning avant garde musicians like Yoshizawa, Togashi, Takagi, etc. from both jazz and classical fields under the producing of Aquirax Aida. These are all amazing masterpieces.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=20272

Here is the link for purchasing Distant Voices with Yuji Takahashi and Takeshisa Kosugi.

 

Add "Girl Talk" to that list. I love TYT.

If you find a copy of this "Isao Suzuki Trio - Blue City" grab me one please

 

This one?

 

Thanks Yasujiro but no, I am not after the SACD but the TBM CD 2524 preferably the WG pressing.

 

There is also the " Live in Montreux" cd as well.

 

thanks for all the suggestions, heres what I got:

Terumasa Hino - Hi-Nology (1969) mini-LP
Yosuke Yamashita - Minas Second Theme (1969) mini-LP
Yosuke Yamashita & Yasutaka Tsitsui - Ie (1976) mini-LP
Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalos - Electrum (1970)
Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalos - Uganda (1973) mini-LP
Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalos - Get Up! (1975)
M. Sato / J. Inagaki & his Big Soul Media - Bridge Over Troubled Water mini-LP


Masahiko Sato - Dema (Rumor) (1973) > this is the only one Ive listened to so far, I bought it just because of the cool cover and the year 1973 which is the apex year for recorded music, imo...OMFnG, what an awesome CD !!!! Its probably the greatest peice of recorded music Ive ever heard, like a way better free jazz version of Mahavishnu Orchestra with Sonny Sharrock sitting in, and theres a part that sounds like a heavier King Crimson interupting an avante-garde piano recording...unbelievably great, I want more !!!!!

plus I got some Japanese rock too, with help from the Japanrocksampler book:

Flower Travellin Band - Anywhere (1970)
Kuni Kawachi w/ FTB - Kirikyogen (1970) mini-LP
The Happenings Four +1 - The Long Trip (1971) mini-LP
Takehisa Kosugi (of Taj Mahal Travellers) - Catch Wave (1973) mini-LP
Hiro Yanagida (1971) mini-LP
Hideki Ishima - One Day (1973) mini-LP
People - Ceremony: Buddha Meets Rock (1971) mini-LP
Love Live Life +1 - Love Will Make A Better You (1971) mini-LP
J.A. Caesar - Kokkyu Junreika (1973) mini-LP

anyone know of anything else that sounds like the Masahiko Sato one from 1973, does he have any other things like this ???

 

This is an incredible album, and I believe the issue you got has a couple neat bonus tracks as well.

 

I don't know much about Japanese Jazz, but I did acquire an early Saba (MPS) album on CD: Hideo Shiraki Quintet + 3 Koto Girls - "Sakura Sakura" and I love it. It's being reissued on SHM-CD in Japan next month.