snobb Japanese reeds player and band leader, Toshiyuki Miyama, started his musical career with his own band, Jive Ace, in 1950, playing American popular music, or more precisely - a Japanese adaptation of it. Soon the combo grew up to a big band named The New Herd, which became one of the most popular collectives playing Western music in Japan. Extremely prolific, the band played everything from popular soap opera tunes to TV-serial soundtrack covers, releasing ten or more albums every year. In late the 60s, Miyama farsightedly jumped to just-born and short-lived but very creative Japanese free-jazz movement (regularly collaborating with one of its leaders, pianist Masahiko Satoh), this is what brought The New Herd international fame. In the late 70s the big band tried to ensure a solid foundation underfoot playing everything from still popular jazz fusion, to jazz standards, r'n'b and pop hits again.

"Orchestrane", the Herd's album coming from the late 70s, is interesting since it is dedicated to John Coltrane's music. It contains just four songs, quite unusually including "A Love Supreme" among three Coltrane early classics - "Impressions", "Naima" and "Giant Steps". Even more - "A Love Supreme" takes all of side B on the original vinyl release.

Remixed in 2005, "Orchestrane"'s reissue has excellent sound precisely separating each instrument of a big orchestra with exceptional stereo separation in the best old school tradition. During the mid-70s The Herd... recorded a few albums for the Japanese audiophile label, Three Blind Mouse, they really knew what the great recorded sound means.

Unfortunately, the good news finishes here. It's even a bit strange, that after some years playing radical avant-garde jazz (partially with Masahiko Satoh), Miyama returns to extremely safe overly orchestrated sound. All the album's music recalls a lot the sound of many National Radio and TV orchestras from the 60s, where classically trained musicians started playing over orchestrated extremely static and bombastic versions of big band music. The Coltrane pieces sound very much as waltzes and marches from New Year's Wiener ball. Four-parts suite-like "A Love Supreme" (lasting over 20 minutes) under tons of overoptimistic brass lost all its spirituality, added sax soloing doesn't help much. The final part ("Psalm") combining sax solo alone with almost atonal orchestral wall of sound sounds odd.

Far not the worst Miyama's album, it can attract mostly Coltrane legacy collectors as well as fans of heavily orchestrated perfectly recorded progressive big band music.