Jazz From Japan : Now And Then

Another new name from Japanese hippest label Playwright (home of Fox Capture Plan,Bohemian Voodoo,Primitive Art Orchestra,TRI4TH,etc) - reeds player Yusuke Shima

Edited by snobb - 04 Jan 2018 at 11:52pm

Modern jazz singer with roots in tradition Mie Joki will release her third album next week - on audiophile label Ultra Art Record/ Veteran pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto plays on 5 tracks (whole side A)

Edited by snobb - 08 Jan 2018 at 9:17am

Electro-pop of 80s had influenced Japanese jazz as well as in Western world, and there were their own heroes. Sax player and composer Yasuaki Shimizu album from 1982, reissued few months ago

Edited by snobb - 08 Jan 2018 at 11:54pm

Venus label,known by their erotic cover art and specialization on mainstream ballads, wasn't always like that. Far not everyone knows that Venus were the first reissuing Albert Ayler 1966 live recordings ("At Slugs Salon vol. 1 & 2") on one CD in 1994.

Edited by snobb - 07 Nov 2018 at 2:00am

Back to nowadays, new bands still try to explore so popular in last decades classic fusion sound. Shabel is one of them, with new(already third) album "True/False" coming in February

one among better works of legendary Japanese percussionist Masahiko Togashi "Song of Soil" (recorded with bassist Charlie Haden and trumpeter Don Cherry in late 70s) has been reissued in last December on vinyl. Recorded live in Paris

Edited by snobb - 12 Jan 2018 at 7:55am

Guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi often is titled "Japanese Derek Bailey". Started from cool jazz, he participated on the early country's free jazz scene and influenced later noise/brutal avant rock/jazz movement for decades ahead

Edited by snobb - 17 Jan 2018 at 12:51am

Acoustic bass veteran Isao Suzuki on one of his better albums (with audiophile sound from Three Blind Mice)

Edited by snobb - 19 Jan 2018 at 2:50pm

Chamber- avant garde Ensemble Shippoly will release their new album at the end of February

Cult pianist from early years of Japanese free jazz Masahiko Satoh later searched for different directions. His unorthodox minimalist album with strong domestic scent recorded together with percussionist /composer Midori Takada (originally released in Japan in 1990) has been reissued in Switzerland last year by label with funny name "We Release Whatever The We Want Records".

Edited by snobb - 15 Dec 2018 at 10:12am