I stumbled upon this obscure Three Blind Mice release not too long ago and it has fast become one of my favorite jazz albums. Saxophonist Allan Praskin is kind of a "dark horse" in jazz. He recorded very little under his own name, and not much in general. Apparently, he spent most of his career living in Europe, playing gigs with various musicians on the live circuit there. Praskin is a fantastic saxophonist and deserves some accolades for his Japan-only release, "Encounter."

Praskin's prowess is on full display on this 1971 release. Joining Praskin are some of the great Japanese players of the time: Kiyoshi Sugimoto on electric guitar, Yoshio Ikeda on bass, and the great Motohiko Hino on drums. This is an exhilarating dose of hard bop with avant-garde/free jazz tendencies. The album consists of three originals by Praskin and two covers. The musicians play together wonderfully, and skillfully paint outside the lines without going too far-out for too long. "The Height Of Spring" ventures into fusion territory, with Sugimoto delivering a stinging, slightly distorted guitar solo. Closing the album is a fine rendering of Ornette Coleman's "Blues Connotation."

All four musicians shine on this date, and Praskin's soloing is mind-bending in its intensity, skill, soul, and stamina. The man is simply on fire here. This one should really get more recognition than it does. A near masterpiece of edgy jazz from the 70"s.

Drummer Motohiko Hino's "Toko" is some killer psychedelic jazz rock with some avant-garde leanings. This is a live recording from 1975 and this style of fusion may have been on the way out at the time, but Motohiko must have wanted to put his stamp on the genre before moving on to other things. And boy did he.

Like many Japanese jazz records at the time, the recording quality is excellent, and the band was firing on all cylinders that evening. Joining Hino are Mikio Masuda on keyboards, Katsumi Watanabe on electric guitar, and Isao Suzuki on bass. Masuda's keyboards and synths are often wrapped in psychedelic sound effects, while Watanabe's guitar is frequently fuzzed-out and occasionally loaded with wha-wha pedal madness. Suzuki, meanwhile, employs an acoustic bass, giving the music a solid jazz foundation.

The record is essentially 3 long jams, but the band is totally locked in with each other and energized. While there is plenty of improvising going on, there are no boring, meandering moments. They avoid going too far off the rails and remain locked-in with each other throughout the entire performance. All four band members are going off on their individual instruments, yet never lose sight of where the music is going.

Toko is truly a lost gem of jazz rock / fusion. If you enjoy your fusion raw and psychedelic, this album is a must listen - a masterpiece of the genre.

Hiromasa Suzuki's Rock Joint Biwa is one of the great, obscure jazz rock / fusion albums to emerge out of 1970's Japan. The LP offers up an interesting combination of jazz, psychedelic rock, and traditional Japanese instrumentation (biwa, wadaiko). The results are impressive, unique, and never boring. The psychedelic factor is moderate, but is enough to push the music into mind-stimulating directions. All the musicians deliver fantastic performances, particularly the guitar work of Kiyoshi Sugimoto. He can do jazz and heavy psych with equal impact and style. The injections of traditional Japanese music is masterfully done, and never feels forced or awkward. Being a big fan of early 1970's fusion, this was an enjoyable listen for me. I have been exploring the Japanese branch of this sub-genre, and this was a great find. I highly recommend this album to like-minded travelers. I will be searching out an affordable CD copy of Suzuki's following album, Rock Joint Cither – Silk Road, which is another lost fusion gem.

Philadelphia's Sounds of Liberation created an excellent, yet obscure, jazz/fusion LP. The year was 1972 and the doors of creativity that were kicked open in the late 1960's had not yet been closed by the increasingly corporate music industry. The music scene was still fertile and the Sounds of Liberation were keen on capitalizing on the opportunity to create something unique. New Horizons is an intoxicating mixture of jazz rock/fusion, free jazz, and African music. All of this is wrapped in a slightly psychedelic aura. The opening track, "Happy Tuesday," even has a Krautrock vibe to it. The 19-minute song features a driving, repeating rhythm accented with African percussion instruments, while the rest of the band jams along. A wonderful trip! The rest of the album does not disappoint, continuing on a similar sonic path. The performances are excellent and the recording and production is decent for an independent release of that time. A highly recommended lost fusion classic!

George Russell's Electronic Souls Loved by Nature is one of the severely underrated jazz releases from the late 1960's/early 1970's. I, personally, would put this up there with Miles Davis' Bitches Brew as far as its inventiveness and uniqueness for the time. The recording is actually from April of 1969 (not released until 1971), which predates the Bitches Brew sessions by about 3 months! This is a very European sounding release, due to the musicians involved in it hailing from Norway, most notably the young Jan Garbarek and Terje Rypdal. The use of tape noises and sound collages with a live band, and recorded in a live setting was innovative for 1969. The musicians performed the piece impeccably and with conviction. There are two, side long tracks that combine cool, repetitive jazz grooves, free jazz, and touches of jazz rock, mostly due to Rypdal's occasional Hendrix-inspired shredding. It has a kind of psychedelic vibe, but in that dark, Norwegian style in contrast to Bitches Brew's very American sound. This one should really be recognized for what is - a groundbreaking jazz classic.