Deep J Jazz

First

Morning Tide

Animals Garden

Topology

Dragon Dance

Tachibana

Dead Letter

East Plants

Kaze

Earth Mother

Buy  / Stream the album here: https://orcd.co/room427

The ninth album in BBE Music’s J Jazz Masterclass Series presents ‘At the Room 427’ by Koichi Matsukaze Trio Featuring Ryojiro Furusawa, a rarely heard exemplar of post-modal power bop and free jazz.

Delivered by a trio playing with an intensity and energy that draws on classic Eric Dolphy and mid-era Coltrane but definitely with its own particular vibe, At the Room 427 is an exemplar of febrile improvised jazz that could only come from Japan.

This deluxe reissue sees a welcome return to the J Jazz Masterclass series for saxophonist Koichi Matsukaze. Originally issued in 1976 on the cult ALM label, At the Room 427 is the debut album from one of the most exciting and forward-thinking instrumentalists to emerge in the mid 1970s. Matsukaze’s distinctively angular, deconstructive style adds an unpredictable quality to the session that is balanced by the muscular bass of Koichi Yamazaki and the kinetic drumming of Ryojiro Furusawa, who provides a sound footing for Matuskaze’s fiery solos and free-form chemistry.

The album opens with the epic Acoustic Chicken, a 20-minute tour de force of dynamic and explosive interplay. Featured on J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz From Japan volume 3 and written by Furusawa, Acoustic Chicken’s strong melody lines and scorching sax finely mesh with the driving rhythm section. Furusawa’s Elvin Jones-like rolls and batteries of percussion are underpinned by Yamazaki’s driving and rounded bass.

At the Room 427 also includes a radical deconstruction of the Billie Holiday classic Lover Man and three more original compositions by Matsukaze. The album was recorded live in November 1975 before a small audience in – as the title states – Room 427, a classroom in Chuo University, the alma mater of both Matsukaze and Furusawa. However, despite the rudimentary surroundings, the recording by Yukio Kojima, founder of ALM, manages to give the listener the feeling of being in the room itself, up close to the band, bristling with an intense energy.

This reissue of a long-lost rarity of post-bop/free playing maintains the exceptionally high standard set by the previous releases in the BBE Music J Jazz Masterclass Series. As with all releases in the series, At the Room 427 comes with full reproduction artwork and extra sleeve notes, with artist interviews and biographies.

The J Jazz Masterclass Series is curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden for BBE Music.

Koichi Matsukaze Trio - Acoustic Chicken

BBE Music continues its highly acclaimed J Jazz Masterclass Series with Kemo Sabe, the debut album from pianist Masao Nakajima. Recorded in 1979 on Yupiteru Records, it’s an elusive beast in the field of J Jazz and balances delicate and refined playing with power and vigour.

The Kemo Sabe album features bassist Osamu Kawakami, who has performed and recorded with such J Jazz figureheads as Sadao Watanabe, Isao Suzuki, and Kunihiko Sugano. Sax duty is by Toshiyuki Honda, leader of the popular fusion group Burning Waves. On drums is Donald Bailey, the noted American drummer most known for playing on classic Jimmy Smith Blue Note sessions. Bailey lived and worked in Japan for a number of years from the late 70s and recorded several album dates with local artists such including Keiko Nemoto, Isao Suzuki and George Kawaguchi.

Recorded at the height of the electric fusion era, Kemo Sabe is an avowedly acoustic album, which may account for the small sales and low profile of the album at the time. The propulsive title track, written by New Zealand jazzman Mike Nock, was gifted to Nakajim- san when they briefly met and was featured on J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz From Japan vol 3. The reissue’s liner notes features an exclusive interview with Masao Nakajima himself, discussing his career and background to the album.

The BBE J Jazz Masterclass Series is curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden and is dedicated to presenting the very finest in Japanese jazz. The series features rare, long-lost and unreleased material presented in the highest quality reproductions of the original releases, fully licensed and authorised.

Masao Nakajima Quartet - Kemo - Sabe [BBE Music]

Buy / Stream it here: https://orcd.co/planets

Since 2018, BBE Music has been leading the field in reissuing rare modern jazz from Japan’s golden period spanning the late 60s to the early 80s. The J Jazz Masterclass Series continues to present the finest in Japanese jazz with 'Planets' by Masaru Imada Trio + 1.

Originally released in 1977 as a private press album, 'Planets' showcases the refined playing and sophisticated compositions of one of Japan’s leading pianists, Masaru Imada. In a fifty- plus year career he has released over 40 albums, including several that have won awards from some of Japan’s leading music publications and has recorded with leading US jazz artists such as David Sanborn, Brecker Brothers, Steve Gadd, and Grover Washington Jr.

Imada’s Bosendorfer piano is joined by the drums of Tetsujiro Obara and the bass of Kunimitsu Inaba, augmented by Yuji Imamura on percussion. The opening title track on Planets (featured on J Jazz vol 3) is a wafer-thin modal waltz, beginning with gentle bells and shells, followed by Obara’s deft brush work and Inaba’s hypnotically pliant bass that gives a discrete yet steady support to the gossamer melody from Imada-san’s piano. The other standout track is the suite, Sea's Pasture, an epic piece that undulates and heaves, like the dark endless ocean, rich with mystery and each side of the album ends with a solo piece on the haunting Bosendorfer.

Planets comes with full reproduction of the original artwork with obi strip, extra photos, a translation of the original sleeve note and a 3000 word new sleeve note by Tony Higgins including an interview with Masaru Imada himself.

The J Jazz Masterclass Series is curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden for BBE Music.

Masaru Imada Trio + 1 - Planets

Song of Island

Introducing Hideyasu Terakawa Quartet Live Featuring Hiroshi Fujii

Black Nile (Live) [feat. Hiroshi Fujii]

Buy / Stream the album here: https://orcd.co/nakamuralocus

Japan has produced some exceptionally talented jazz drummers and among them is Tatsuya Nakamura, who joins the BBE Music J Jazz Masterclass Series with his album ‘Locus’ from 1984, a session covering several bases, from heavy percussive samba to meditative avant-ambient. This is the album’s first ever reissue, although a track from ‘Locus’, ‘1⁄4 Samba’, was included on J Jazz vol. 3.

Nakamura began his drumming career as a teenager, inspired after seeing the documentary film “Jazz on A Summer’s Day” and listening to his idols Art Blakey and Miles Davis. By his early twenties, Nakamura was working with such luminaries as free jazz guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi, pianist Masaru Imada and band leader & composer Mitsuaki Kanno. In the mid-70s, like several other Japanese jazz players, Nakamura decided to make the move to New York where he studied drumming with Roy Haynes, and performed with members of the AACM and players from the loft and free jazz scenes including Richard Davis, George Adams, John Hicks, and Pharaoh Sanders. Returning to Japan, Nakamura continued playing as leader of his Japanese band The Jazz Fellows and in 1979, he went into the studio as leader for the classic “Where Is The Quarter” session featuring Masaru Imada, Hideto Kanai and Kenji Mori. This session includes the original percussion heavy version of ‘1⁄4 Samba’ and was followed by a period back in NYC during which he recorded the funky/free session ‘Rip Off’ in 1980. 1984 saw Nakamura working as leader of a heavy-duty fusion septet and in February of that year he led them in a performance at Audio Technica Hall. The album ‘Locus’ on Sea Horse Records is the label’s one and only release.

On ‘Locus’, Nakamura is joined by a stellar line-up. On trumpet is Shinobu Fujimoto and he’s joined by seasoned bass player Hideto Kanai (1931 -2011) who began playing in the mid- 1950s, appearing on King Recs All-Star Jazz Series before going on to be a regular fixture on the legendary Three Blind Mice (TBM) label, backing many of its leading artists. He even released his own album on TBM, ‘Ode to Birds’ in 1975. On guitar is Kazumasa Akiyama. Born in Tokyo in 1955, he taught himself guitar at 10 years old and was influenced initially by The Beatles and Ray Charles, and later Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Chicago Blues, and jazz. When he was a student, he got a chance to appear on Sadao Watanabe's radio program ‘My Dear Life’, which led him to join the Isao Suzuki Group and Mikio Masuda Group. Akiyama released his first leader album ‘Dig My Style’ in 1978 and is still an active musician. On keys is the incredible Jun Fukamachi (1946-2010). Born in Harajuku, Tokyo, Fukamachi started playing the piano at the age of three, showing an extraordinary talent, recognised as a child prodigy. He became a professional musician while still in school and released his first album ‘Portrait of a Young Man’ on Polydor in 1971. A pioneer of synthesizer, and among the first to popularise fusion in Japan, Fukamachi has composed and produced numerous recordings embracing jazz, fusion, funk, rock, and classical. An internationally recognised figure, Fukamachi worked with Anthony Jackson, David Sanborn, Randy and Michael Brecker, Mike Mainieri, Steve Gadd, and Richard Tee. Percussionist Tatsuji Yokoyama has worked across Japanese jazz and fusion since the 1970s appearing on albums from the likes of Masahiko Togashi, Takao Uematsu, Mikio Masuda, Toshiyuki Honda, Yuji Ohno and Shigeharu Mukai.

Tatsuya Nakamura continues to record and play live with many musicians including The New York Unit, and has toured extensively across Africa, Senegal, Morocco, Turkey, Australia and Indonesia. He remains active to this day, recording and touring with his band Japan Jazz Unit.

The J Jazz Masterclass Series is curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden for BBE Music.

Tatsuya Nakamura - ¼ Samba II

But / S Stream the album here: https://orcd.co/songforhope

BBE Music welcomes pianist Aki Takase to the J Jazz Masterclass reissue series, with her 1982 live album ‘Song for Hope’.

A musician of poise and precision who has been a noted composer, performer and recording artist for over 40 years, Takase’s ‘Song for Hope’ continues BBE Music’s exploration of Japanese modern jazz from a golden period spanning the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.

The ‘Song for Hope’ album is taken from a recording of Takase’s debut European performance taped in November 1981 at the Berlin Jazz Festival and was originally issued in 1982 by Enja Records, a key European jazz label founded in Munich 1971 by Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber. On Enja, Takase found herself labelmates with some of the world’s leading jazz pianists like Mal Waldron, Dollar Brand and Randy Weston, and she followed in the footsteps of other leading Japanese artists on the label such as Terumasa Hino and Yosuke Yamashita.

The hypnotic title track was included on J Jazz vol. 3, and it features J Jazz stalwart Takeo Moriyama on drums, joined by Nobuyoshi Ino on bass. Moriyama’s career has been well documented on J Jazz vol. 1, and his sublime ‘East Plants’ album was reissued as part of the J Jazz Masterclass Series. Bassist Ino has been an active member of the Japanese jazz scene since the mid-1970s and has performed and recorded with many leading artists and groups including Fumio Itabashi, Masahiko Togashi, Hiromasa Suzuki, Masaru Imada and Masayuki Takayanagi.

Aki Takase was born in Osaka in 1948 and began playing piano aged 3. Raised in Tokyo, she studied classical music at the Toho Gakuen Academy, and her musical interests developed from a starting point in classical, before going on to encompass contemporary music and jazz. Among the first jazz compositions she explored were works by Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman and, in 1972, she moved to New York, working with, among others, Lester Bowie, John Zorn and Dave Liebman.

She recorded her debut album for Seven Seas/King Records in 1978 and appeared on some key J Jazz album such as Yoshio Ikeda’s ‘Sketches of my Life’ and Seiichi Nakamura’s ‘Wolf’s Theme’. Takase has lived in Berlin since 1987 and is married to German pianist and composer Alexander von Schlippenbach, with whom she records and performs, sometimes as part of the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. She has also performed and recorded extensively with many other leading figures in contemporary jazz and improvised music including David Murray, Fred Frith, Evan Parker, and Maria João.

The J Jazz Masterclass Series is curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden for BBE Music.

Aki Takase Trio - Song for Hope

Minoru Muraoka - Take Five

Order on vinyl / CD or digital formats: https://bbemusic.lnk.to/J-Jazz
In the years following World War Two, Japan developed one of the most insatiable, dynamic and diverse markets for jazz. For a crucial period of little over a decade – from the late 1960s to the early 1980s – Japanese jazz culture progressed at an astonishing rate, producing an extraordinary array of artists, recordings and record labels that created some of the most forward thinking and impressive jazz to be committed to tape. This amazing journey is explored on ‘J Jazz’.
This compilation from BBE uncovers some of the most sought after and rare material from this period and pulls together key artists who shaped the post-war modern jazz scene in Japan.

‘J Jazz’ includes obscure and sought after rarities like the bass-driven power jazz of Koichi Matsukaze’s ‘Earth Mother’, the holy grail rarity of Aizawa Tohru Quartet’s ‘Dead Letter’ and the loping majesty of Takeo Moriyama’s ‘North Wind’. This collection takes the listener into deep spiritual jazz, post-modal impressionism and fierce dance-floor fusion with material from artists and composers whose names are generally only known to committed collectors of Japanese jazz. Fumio Karashima, Mitsuaki Katayama, Takeo Moriyama and Kiyoshi Sugimoto are among the names featured on an album aiming to shed a little light on the shadowy world of Japanese jazz clubs, tucked away in the neon backstreets. This music demands a wider audience and BBE are excited to deliver a landmark compilation, lifting the veil on this wonderful and mysterious area of the global jazz catalogue.

None of the tracks featured on ‘J Jazz’ have ever received an official release outside Japan before. The albums the tracks are taken from are extremely hard to find and often fetch huge sums on the collector’s circuit. Originally pressed in small numbers on independent and private labels such as Union, Johnny’s Disk, Whynot, ALM and VAP, these tracks are now available for everyone to enjoy.

Compiled by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden, both long-time collectors of Japanese jazz, ’J Jazz’ brings together the very best in modern jazz from Japan, recorded during a critical period of musical and cultural transition that saw composers and musicians not only assert a new artistic identity but also create a lasting musical legacy.

Eiji Nakayama – Aya’s Samba

Order on vinyl / CD or digital formats: https://BBEmusic.lnk.to/J-Jazz
In the years following the World War Two, Japan developed one of the most insatiable, dynamic and diverse markets for jazz. For a crucial period of little over a decade - from the late 1960s to the early 1980s - Japanese jazz culture progressed at an astonishing rate, producing an extraordinary array of artists, recordings and record labels that created some of the most forward thinking and impressive jazz to be committed to tape. This amazing journey is explored on ‘J Jazz’.
This compilation from BBE uncovers some of the most sought after and rare material from this period and pulls together key artists who shaped the post- war modern jazz scene in Japan.

Fumio Karashima – Little Island

Available on triple vinyl, CD and digital formats: https://orcd.co/jjazz2

Following the sell-out success of our landmark compilation, J Jazz: deep modern jazz from Japan 1969-1984, BBE Records is thrilled to present another exploration into the very finest Japanese modern jazz.

J Jazz 2 builds on the solid foundation of the first compilation and sees co-compilers Tony Higgins and Mike Peden once again pick choice sections from their own record collections. They present a deep dive into an intoxicating and beguiling range of styles: from cinematic roaring big-band (Little G by Nobuo Hara) and sparse minimal acoustic funk (Teru Teru Bozo by Teru Sakomoto), to deep spiritual modal epics (Dragon Dance by Makoto Terashita and Harold Land) and funk fusion (Mother of the Future by Electro Keyboard Orchestra). J Jazz 2 delivers more astonishing high quality jazz that will appeal the old school hard-core jazz head as much as those digging the current sounds of the current vibrant jazz explosion in the UK and USA.

The specially chosen tracks on J Jazz volume two span across 25 years of Japanese musical progression and invention. From the elegiac stark beauty of Serenade to a Dimly Lit Street and the modal vortex of Daguri, to the fierce post-bop freedom of Bull Trout and the mid-tempo bossa lilt of Vietnam, there is enough here to satisfy the most curious and demanding jazz fan seeking something extra special. J Jazz 2 is available across all formats.

Koichi Matsukaze Trio - The Original Bill

Available on triple vinyl, CD and digital formats: https://orcd.co/jjazz2
Following the sell-out success of our landmark compilation, J Jazz: deep modern jazz from Japan 1969-1984, BBE Records is thrilled to present another exploration into the very finest Japanese modern jazz.

J Jazz 2 builds on the solid foundation of the first compilation and sees co-compilers Tony Higgins and Mike Peden once again pick choice sections from their own record collections. They present a deep dive into an intoxicating and beguiling range of styles: from cinematic roaring big-band (Little G by Nobuo Hara) and sparse minimal acoustic funk (Teru Teru Bozo by Teru Sakomoto), to deep spiritual modal epics (Dragon Dance by Makoto Terashita and Harold Land) and funk fusion (Mother of the Future by Electro Keyboard Orchestra). J Jazz 2 delivers more astonishing high quality jazz that will appeal the old school hard-core jazz head as much as those digging the current sounds of the current vibrant jazz explosion in the UK and USA.

The specially chosen tracks on J Jazz volume two span across 25 years of Japanese musical progression and invention. From the elegiac stark beauty of Serenade to a Dimly Lit Street and the modal vortex of Daguri, to the fierce post-bop freedom of Bull Trout and the mid-tempo bossa lilt of Vietnam, there is enough here to satisfy the most curious and demanding jazz fan seeking something extra special. J Jazz 2 is available across all formats.

J Jazz Vol. 2

Takashi Miyasaka Quintet - Straight Road

Buy / Stream the album: orcd.co/jjazz2

Following the sell-out success of our landmark compilation, J Jazz: deep modern jazz from Japan 1969-1984, BBE Records is thrilled to present another exploration into the very finest Japanese modern jazz.

J Jazz 2 builds on the solid foundation of the first compilation and sees co-compilers Tony Higgins and Mike Peden once again pick choice sections from their own record collections. They present a deep dive into an intoxicating and beguiling range of styles: from cinematic roaring big-band (Little G by Nobuo Hara) and sparse minimal acoustic funk (Teru Teru Bozo by Teru Sakomoto), to deep spiritual modal epics (Dragon Dance by Makoto Terashita and Harold Land) and funk fusion (Mother of the Future by Electro Keyboard Orchestra). J Jazz 2 delivers more astonishing high quality jazz that will appeal the old school hard-core jazz head as much as those digging the current sounds of the current vibrant jazz explosion in the UK and USA.

The specially chosen tracks on J Jazz volume two span across 25 years of Japanese musical progression and invention. From the elegiac stark beauty of Serenade to a Dimly Lit Street and the modal vortex of Daguri, to the fierce post-bop freedom of Bull Trout and the mid-tempo bossa lilt of Vietnam, there is enough here to satisfy the most curious and demanding jazz fan seeking something extra special. J Jazz 2 is available across all formats.

Deep J Jazz

Régis Levert