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

The PSF discs are easy enough to find. I think the best option is to order directly from PSF Records:​

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http://www.psfrecords.com/list1-20.html​

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Just scroll through the catalog and you'll find the Abe discs. I recommend starting with Jazz Bed (PSFD-67), Solo 1972 (PSFD-46) and Trio: March 1970 (PSFD-56) . Every CD on the website costs $18 and the cool thing about PSF is they have no shipping charge, just a $5 fee for every order, regardless of size. They are very fast too and I ususally get my package in a week or so.​

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The duo recordings with Takayanagi have been OOP for a while so they're a bit harder to get your hands on at a decent price. You'll probably wanna start with Mass Projection. There's a copy on discogs right now for under $40:​

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http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?release_id=668857&ev=rb​

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It doesn't include the obi card but what do you do? My copy didn't either and I think I paid around $25 for it.​

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Or, you could try some of his other CDs like:​

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- The Last Recording​

- Studio Session 1976.3.12 ​

- Partitas​

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They should be pretty easy to find on Amazon and the like. These are all good recordings btw, I just prefer the PSF and Takayanagi CDs​

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I didn't check ebay but you might find better prices there. Good luck!​

 

very good. thanks for the suggestions.

looks like a lot of cool stuff to be found on the PSF site.

 

yeah, I'm gonna have to get a lot of these too from CDJapan...I was gonna wait until I go to Tokyo in June but I don't want to take any chances...since Tower Shinjuku drastically reduced their jazz section by about 80%, it's really hard to find Japanese jazz in Tokyo anymore....here what I'm gonna get so far:

Tokehsi Inomata and Sound Ltd. - Innocent Canon
checkitout on youtube, groove jazz/acid rock, a genre it seems only the Japanese did !

Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd - Nio & Pigeon
Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd - Tuchi no Oto - Nihon Densetsu no Naka no Shijou
...I have one New Herd mini-LP with Masahiko Sato called New Herd + Masahiko Togashi - Canto of Aries (Columbia 1970)
and it's a really strange sparse and spacey LP, there's also another one called Canto of Aries I haven't been able to find....

V.A. - Sensational Jazz '70 (2CD Live Set)
...this has Yosuke Yamashita Trio, Kosuke Mine, and Count Buffalos on it as far as I can tell, there's also
another 2 LP comp I found on CDJapan which I'm gonna get called: V.A. Live in Tokyo '69 that just came out last month.

Jiro Inagaki and his Soul Media - In The Groove
Jiro Inagaki and his Big Soul Media - Jazz and Rock "Out"
...this guy rocks, I have Head Rock and Masahiko Sato & Jiro Inagaki & his Soul Media - Bridge over Troubled Water
and they both are mind blowers !

Count Buffalo and his Rock Band - Exciting Drums / African Rock Party
...I have 5 CDs of Akira Ishikawa: Soul and Rock (69) Electrum (70) Bakishinba: Memories of Afric (70)
Uganda (72) and Get Up! (75) and besides Electrum, which is a 10, the rest are about 50% semi but still enetertaing cheese and 50%
stone jammers....

one I'm on the fence about is:
George Kawaguchi and Super Band - Super Drrums

> I'm think I'm gonna drop about $300 from my paypal account as anm X-mas gift to myself...

two other very interesting ones which I have, that are of the groove jazz / acid rock variety, and which can be had from CDJapan are
Hiromasa Suzuki - Rock Joint Biwa: Kumikyoko Fulukotofumi (RCA 1972)
Hiromasa Suzuki - Rock Joint Cither: Kumikyoko Silk Road (RCA 1973)
...these are from the Deep Jazz Reality Series (but are jewel cases unlike most from this series which are mini-LPs)
and both are about as heavy as it gets...I would post scans but you apparently can't do that here anymore....I mentioned these
in another thread, more info and picks there if you do a seach....

 

Man that's crazy! You'd think Tokyo would be overflowing with these kinds of CDs. I've recently been buying up more of the rare stuff, especially CDs on TBM and East Wind as it doesn't look like they're getting reissued anytime soon.

Strange you should mention those albums because I JUST ordered both from a Japanese seller on Amazon! They were kinda pricey but I listened to them on youtube & they blew me away! I also have the New Herd Monterey Jazz Festival 1974 XRCD as well as the mini-LP of Orchestrane which is an album of Coltrane covers. Another recent purchase I made is the Perspective mini-LP recorded in 1969 & featuring Sato. I'll post my impressions when I've had a chance to spin it.

I actually got the Jazz in Tokyo '69 2CD set a few weeks ago. The highlights for me are Yamashita's and Mine's tunes. They are on fire! I also enjoyed the legendary Hidehiko "Sleepy" Matsumoto's take on "Green Dolphin Street". Takehiro Honda's trio does a pretty fantastic cover of "Hey Jude" as well. All in all, a great reissue!

I got these reissues along with Jazz in Tokyo:

Masaru Imada - Ascent
Kiyoshi Sugimoto - Our Time
Transam - Funky Steps VOL.1 & 2
Hiromasa Suzuki - High-Flying
Hiromasa Suzuki, Jiro Inagaki, Big Soul Media - By the Red Stream
Nobuo Hara and His Sharps And Flats +1 - Electronics!

Out of these, I've only listened to Electronics! and it's killer! Opens with a really nice cover of Tull's "Bouree" and features lots of sweet Fender Rhodes and a groovin' rhythm section.

YES!!!! I loooove this cat! I have Head Rock and Woodstock Generation (both brilliant) but I NEED Bridge Over Troubled Water!!!! I'm afraid I'll never get it!

Ishikawa is great! I have all of those except Get Up! which sounds pretty damn funky to me! There are sellers offering used copies on Amazon Japan but don't you know they don't deliver to the States?!

Well, Kawaguchi is a bit more traditional as far as jazz stylings go. He's a really powerful drummer, in the style of Art Blakey. I only have one CD with him on TBM called The Big 4 which I dig a lot. Here's a clip of one of my favorite tracks from the album called "Invader 7":



It's a BANGER!!!!

YES!!! GREAT albums both! As stated above I also have By The Red Stream and High-Flying both of which I still need to listen to!

BTW, I just finished listening to Kikuchi's In Concert and Poesy and LOVE em! Man, 1971 was one HELL of a year for that guy!

 

yeah, I put By the Red Sream in my shopping cart...tell me if it's worth it...another one in my cart is Kikuchi's Poesy, since I have so many from this series...is it a duet? What does it sound like ???
I've seen Woodstock Generation in Tokyo a lot, but didn't get it due to the fact that it's mostly all covers, and Ishikawa's covers can tend to be alittle cheesy, albeit ina good way...Get Up! is pretty cheesy, there's a review by me on Rate Your Music.com.....as well as a lot of other things...Bridge Over Troubled Water is really really awesome, as is everything else on the Deep Jazz Reality series.....I haven't heard of that Kuyoshi Sagimoto CD, have to checkitout..the 2 mini-LPs I have of his (also on Deep Jazz Real are OUTASIGHT !!!) also haven't heard of Suzuki's High Flying...

 

I spun this one last night. All I can say is WOW!!!! Since you dig Head Rock you should really get a kick out of this. The instrumentation is similar but the arrangements are much more free... it's only four tunes after all! My favorite track is "There Is No Way To Win The War". It features swinging drumming, snarling wah guitar and masses of free horn playing. LOVE IT! The title track is pretty rockin' too and "Warm, Honest & Love" has an In A Silent Way feel to it. This is a KILLER album!

It's a duet for the most part between Kikuchi and Masahiko Togashi... Gary Peacock plays on three tracks. It's hard to recommend this one unless you're cool with "out" playing. Although Kikuchi wrote most of the tunes, the playing is much closer to the kinds of things Togashi was doing at the time so everything has a more avant-garde feel which I dig a lot! It's actually cool to hear him veering into Cecil Taylor territory on some of these tunes!

It's mostly covers but the band does some really cool stuff with them. I really like the versions of "Woodstock" & "Summertime Blues" here. Also, "Ground For Peace", "Spoonful" and "Head Rock" are totally different from the versions on Head Rock. I guess it's not an essential album but I'm glad I got it!

I sooooo need that album! Seems like a real highlight in Sato's 70s output. And yeah, this whole series is simply amazing. I don't think they've reissued a dud album yet!

Oh yeah, Country Dream and Babylonia Wind are BANGING! If it's half as good as those I'll be happy!

 

So I just got Keitarou Miho and Jazz Eleven on cd.Didnt even know it was on cd ,just heard wispers of the vinyl on the internets ,sells for like thousands of dollars.Anyway it is awesome,female wordless vocals mixed in with some improv and such.also has a straight forward jazz track.Not one word of english thruout the cd,obi,booklet.anyone have any info on this album.I read somewhere Mashiko sato was involved.

 

^^^Man, where did you get that?! That album is featured in the book I mentioned and IIRC Sato does play keys on it! Would love to score a copy myself!

Over the past few months I've gotten a bunch of rare stuff I've been on the hunt for including Akira Ishikawa's Get Up! and Sato's Bridge Over Troubled Water (FINALLY!). Both of those are fantastic! I also puchased the OOP XRCD of Isao Suzuki's Touch right after Christmas but don't you know the guy got back to me a few weeks later and said there was a mix up and it got lost!

I did however manage to win the TBM reissue of Suzuki's All Right on ebay and LOVE it! It's a great, funky bit of fusion featuring two guitarists and lots of wicked Fender Rhodes. It might be the best album of his that I own!

This CD was really surprising:



I have quite a few Hino CDs but this one is something else! Has a stellar lineup including John Scofield, Kohsuke Mine, George Ohtsuka and the always amazing Mtume on percussion. The title track is simply beautiful and the cover of Wayne Shorter's "Fall" with the wordless female vocalizing is gorgeous. My favorite track is "This Planet is Ours" by Harry Whitaker of Black Renaissance fame. If you dig the kozmigroov style of 70s jazz then this is a must-own!

I know he was mentioned previously but I have to give it up for these fantastic albums by Teruo Nakamura:







These three are among the best fusion albums I own! As much as I like Unicorn these might be even better. All feature a great selection of musicians including Steve Grossman, Harry Whitaker, Herbie Hancock, Lonnie Smith, Onaje Allan Gumbs and Randy Brecker among others. The live at Carnegie Hall album is KILLER! Rising Sun is a really solid effort and "The Cat" might be my pick for best track. It's weird though cause Grossman has a version of this tune on Terra Firma called "Inmate Man" which was recorded at the same time as Rising Sun but is credited to him while "The Cat" is credited to Nakamura. Well, either way, it's one awesome tune:



I also have to mention Kiyoshi Sagimoto's Our Time. Damn that is one smoking album! It's a lot more funk-oriented than his other releases but I DEEPLY dig it! Easily recommended if you like his other albums.

 

http://www.japanimprov.com/cdshop2/newarrivals.html They have some good stuff in stock and only took about 10 days to get.I need to chill on buying all these cds tho its gettin pretty expensive!

 

LOVE the Toshiko Akioshi.Lew Tabakin Big Band! The live "Road Time Shuffle" from the Road Time RCA album is one of my all-time favorite straight-ahead swing tracks!






Now playing on http://www.arielstream.com/]Ariel Stream[/URL]: The Corrs - Long Night

 

Any recommendations for Japanese post-bop/avant-garde or modal jazz?

 

Hey thanks for that! I just placed an order with them for the following:

Masahiko Satoh - Holography
Masahiko Satoh Trio - Deformation!
Shudan Sokai - Sono Zenya: Live at Hachioji Alone
Keitarou Miho and Jazz Eleven - Kokezaru Kumikyoku

Can't wait to spin these!

 

For avant-garde, I would recommend:

Kaoru Abe
Masayoshi Urabe
Masahiko Togashi
Masuyaki Takayanagi
Yosuke Yamashita Trio

For modal recordings, I recommend:

Akira Miyazawa (Bull Trout is the one to get but I also like Four Units. It's amazing!)
Naosuke Miyamoto Sextet (Step! was mentioned earlier and it's great, early TBM recording! The track "The Mood Is Modal" hits the spot!)

 

One of my favorite Japanese jazz-fusion albums from the 70's is: Hirosihi Fukumura (with Sadao Watanabe) - Hunt up Wind



It took me forever to find a copy on CD, but eventually I found a used copy of the VDP-5012 for 5 euro's!

Has Hirosihi Fukumura released any other albums in the same vain?

 

The only Fukumura album I have is the TBM classic "Morning Flight" which is more of a hard bop effort. It's really great though!

A favorite of mine featuring Fukumura is Sadao Watanabe's self-titled album from 1972. It also features a VERY restrained Masayuki Takayangi on guitar! Really interesting bit of spiritual jazz.

I listened to some samples of Hunt Up Wind and the most similar-sounding Japanese jazz I can think of is Shunzo Ohno's late-70s albums (Bubbles, Antares, Quarter Moon). Those are all really great.



You might also want to check out Kazumi Watanabe's fusion-funk band Kylyn. They only released a few albums in the 70s which are both pretty good. They might be closer to what you're looking for.

 

Hi!

Excellent thread.
I'm a big fan of the Japanese jazz from the 70's.
Just today I have listened:
Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd - Tuchi No Oto Nihon Densetsu No Naka No Shijou
Hidefumi Toki Quartet - Toki (TBM).

Not been mentioned yet on this thread, but one of my favorite japanese bands from the 70's is Tee & Company (Masayuki Takayanagi, Takao Uematsu, Mori Kenji, Hideto Kanai, Yuji Imamura & Masaru Imada, among others).
http://www.discogs.com/Tee-Company-SonnetSpanish-Flower/release/2293370
I have this edition, that compiles all the three albums released by this superband
TBM forever!

All the best from Barcelona (Spain)

 

Thanks jiffypopinski, I'm going to check these titles out!

 

Many of my favorites are on the East Wind label:

 

I have just received and really enjoy this Jiro Inagaki album from 1973. The CD was released in December last year, and it sounds good!

Bought it from CD Japan, still available there AFAIK:
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/aff/click.cgi/e86NDzbdSLQ/1512/A307399/detailview.html?KEY=COCB-54038

 

Hi ozric! Welcome to the forums!

Yes! These are both fantastic recordings. That Miyama disc is KILLIN'!!! Another recent reissue from Miyama's New Herd is Neo and Pigeon. It's really awesome too!

I also dig that Hidefumi Toki disc! I scored a copy last year on ebay. LOVE it!!!

You have great taste!

 

All of these are fantastic! I have most all of them except:

8035 Ryo Kawasaki Eight Mile Road 76

I have a contact I met through ebay who is looking for this one for me. He got me a near mint copy of Prism recently and will hopefully get Eight Mile Road soon.

Kikuchi's East Wind, Togashi's Spiritual Nature, the Shunzo Ohno discs and that Wishes/Kochi CD are all AMAZING!!!!

I also strongly recommend Kohsuke Mine's Solid. That's a HEAVY slab of mid-70s era Miles funk! Soooo dark and beautiful. Great stuff!!!

 

Not directly relevant to the title of this thread, but a book that might be an interesting read is called "Blue Nippon - authenticating jazz in Japan" by E. Taylor Atkins. It is a rather academic book about the history and development of Jazz in Japan. The last couple of chapters are about the jazz scene from the 1960's to the 90's.
There is a short discography, but it is mainly of interest if you want to understand Japanese attitudes towards jazz.

 

Listening to Prism now. Those '70s Ryo Kawasaki records are long time fusion favorites of mine.

 

Yeah, Prism is awesome! There's one track on there, the third I believe, that just slays! Sounds like something Santana would have played on the Lotus album!

I recently got Eight Mile Road and I think it's even better! It features great saxophone from Sam Morrison and the tunes are a bit free-er than on Prism. The last track "El Diablo" is a smokin' workout! Really dig that one! I also picked up Juice but haven't had a chance to spin it yet.

Here's some more recent Japanese jazz acquisitions:

Masahiko Sato - Samadhi (This one is killer! The opening number is a long, avant-garde piece but the second track, "Fairy Rings", is where it's at! Some wicked electric piano on that tune.)




V/A - Inspiration & Power: 14 Free Jazz Festival (Kickin' live performances from a nice selection of avant-garde giants! I really dig Takayangi's New Direction For The Arts band as well as Toshiyuki Miyama's performance but Sato's Garandoh Trio might have the most interesting track on here. It's a shame they didn't record anything else.)




Toshiaki Yokota - Primitive Community (Man this one is SICK!!!! I had heard good things about it and almost purchased it last year but I slept on it too long and missed out. Glad I have it now though! Some badass guitar on display here and a funky, psychedelic atmosphere. Way cool stuff!)




The opening track "Forbidden Ritual"

 

Got these 2 and found them a bit too heavy for my taste; would prefer something more on the groove side - still very good listening. And I like the mastering on the CD.