The J-Jazz scene is deep and varied. TBM can be hit and miss but J-Jazz goes WAY beyond TBM. If you aren’t aware of this obscure gem which has been recently reissued and cut by Kevin Gray, you’re missing out: Toshiyuki Miyama & The New Herd – 土の音 ～日本伝説の中の詩情～ (2021, Gatefold, Vinyl) I reviewed it on JazzandCoffee a couple of months ago, saying: Picture this imaginary supergroup: Ian Carr’s Nucleus (circa 1970), Frank Zappa’s Grand Wazoo band, and Gary Boyle’s Isotope combined. Oh, and the bass player’s girlfriend is watching, so he turns up nice n’ loud and plays a little busier than usual to show off. Intrigued? Then run—do not walk—to your vendor of choice and pick up 'Tsuchi No Ne (Sound of the Earth)' from Toshiyuki Miyama & The New Herd. Initially recorded in 1973 for Nippon Columbia, original copies are so scarce I don’t believe they exist. But this reissue on Beatball/Cobrarose is drop-dead gorgeous—cut from the master tape by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180gram vinyl at RTI. The heavy-duty jacket, artwork, obi, and insert must be seen (and held) to fully appreciate the quality—top shelf! And it sounds TITANIC. It’s a gargantuan wallop of electrified, swinging, prog-rock/fusion/Avant/big band madness. Some passages sound like futuristic car chase music. Then the band turns on a dime, with moments that float serenely as oboes and piano bring your pulse down to double digits. There are explosive, dramatic soundscapes for an imaginary film where Shaft, Bruce Lee, and the Six Million Dollar Man fight Bigfoot, Voldemort, and Rodan. Side A is six micro epics. Side B is a 22-minute suite that covers so much ground that listening should earn frequent flyer miles. Miyama and the New Herd made a LOT of records, many of which are quite rare, so experimenting is an expensive proposition. Many lean experimental, and others flirt with the kind of overt commercialism that gave fusion a bad name. But this one falls into an early 70s run of excellence, and ‘Tsuchi No Ne’ might be the best of them. Music, sonics, pressing, jacket, obi, detailed liner notes— @beatballmusic knocked this reissue out of the park. This is a vinyl reissue done right! It’s available on some DSPs too, so go sample it right now—this is a record that’ll get your ass in gear regardless of format. Paired with coffee, you’ll be unstoppable! #japanesejazz #rarerecords #obistrip #avantprog Link to IG post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMUpRwesZAx/
nice one...agree wholeheartedly... also interesting that a S. Korean label is reissuing this J Jazz opus AND pressing it at RTI AND using KG...think of all transport it took to get this into my hands in California the global vinyl marketplace is quite a thing these days
Went looking for this out of curiosity and it's not available anywhere except the flippers on Discogs. Really intrigued by this release though; whole new world of jazz to explore now!
Have been relistening to our infamous little favorite Passing Ships. Recently upgraded my headphones to some H HD800S and dug out my older Valhalla 1 headphone amp. Side two is so damn clear and with this new equipment really helps the arrangements shine! (Because I can place everything so well and each instrument has a bit of room to breathe). The flute on Noon Tide is right in your face! Feels like my wife (a flautist) is playing right in front of me. With our good friend Andrew chilling in the back chording. Almost feels like hearing the album for the first time.
its adventurous stuff for sure. and as a reissue, its near perfect, the only one little quibble is that the obi shouldn't go around both sides of the gatefold, ie, you should be able to open the gatefold with the obi in place.
Many thanks for the tip! Tracked one down ar a reasonable price (to Dutch standards that is) after some sampling online. Ps. I absolutely adore the tbm releases from impex, both musically and sonically. To each his/her own I guess.
I got my copy from Amazon.jp sold and shipped by Amazon.jp I don't know if they are still available. The shipping cost was $15-ish, but that is how it is now post-covid unfortunately.... still, not too bad.
I agree with this, to dismiss the whole TBM label because you think the music is "soulless white bread" is doing the label a huge disservice, I get it's you opinion but in the case of "Blow Up" for example, how you can call that cello playing soulless is baffling to me, it's absolutely astonishing playing and drips with soul. I own a fair few of the TBM titles and can confirm there is a lot more to the label than these 3 titles. The album "Girl Talk" by Yama and Jiro's wave has a stunning rendition of the track The Way We Were and some of the finest piano playing put to tape! The live album Sailing Ice by the Motohiko Hino Quartet is an absolutely thunderous session and any time Hino appears on a record it automatically peaks my interest, the guy is a drumming maestro! Even the vocal stuff is great from the likes of Kimiko Kasai, Mari Nakamoto and Ayako Hosokawa. To dismiss the whole label and I'm guessing Japanese jazz in general as soulless white bread is astonishingly ignorant in my opinion. Just say you don't like it, you don't have to be an edgelord for attention.
This thread cost me a bit of money yesterday. I just couldn’t resist @Tim1954’s recommendation and snagged a copy of the Blow Up one step on discogs. It wasn’t cheap, but was comparable to what I pay for MoFi one steps. Then @Sydster comes along with the recommendation of Toshiyuki Miyama and the New Herd, something I hadn’t heard before. I streamed it and man that record slays. I tracked down a copy of the KG cut for retail and had to grab that one too. I’m very excited, and for that I thank you. But my wallet is certainly cursing your names under its breath
well done! the TBM is quite a wallet stretcher these days....the prices have exploded over the last few years and don't be scared of 2nd and 3rd pressings of TBM stuff, while they may have different obi's and changed hands from Toshiba to Nippon Phonogram they all sound great
Sorry to interrupt the kvetching over mis-tracking, Blakey mic overload, TP vs. MM, and , of all things, discussion about TBM titles not having any soul (seriously???), is ANYONE excited about either of the next two TP releases? Any comments, suggestions...heck, ANYTHING to do with the thread title? Sonny Clark –My Conception (Blue Note, 1959) McCoy Tyner – Expansions (Blue Note, 1968)
Yes like both Clark and McCoy Tyner. Not familiar with either of these albums but not had anything from the TP series that I haven't like so far.
If you can get hold of Unicorn and Blue City those two are amazing, they’ve eluded me thus far and I lost in bids on eBay to an original of Unicorn, but the prices are pretty steep!
