jazz-fusion

Mix: 8. Dreaming Of A Dream (Walearic Japan – Vol. 2)

2018/02/02

We can affect change or be an effect of change. These ideas, proposed wonderfully in Charles Demuth’s Spring, moved me to take up a call from Zattirizat to create a playlist for their brilliant guest mix series. Umut from Zattirizat got me thinking: What can I do to move your needle? To do so, I had to…
Gontiti (ゴンチチ): Legacy Of Madam Q (1987)

2018/01/12

I hate to say it but Osaka guitar duo Gontiti (pronounced Gon-Chi-Chi) really nailed it when they called themselves the creators of “The Most Comfortable Music On Earth”. You see, I first encountered the music of Gontiti in the most unlikeliest of likeliest places. On some fateful day, I was with my partner at a…
Killing Time: Irene (1988)

2018/01/05

It is with great joy that I’ve decided to share Killing Time’s Irene. Undoubtedly one of the toughest groups to describe on this hear blog, Killing Time hovers among so many styles and moods that to render them one thing or another would miss the point of their existence. Irene, though, in 1988, perfectly placed…
Thomas Almqvist: The Journey (1980)

2017/11/28

A personal favorite of mine, not because it’s his greatest work — I’d wager more people expect the late, great Swedish guitar maestro Thomas Almqvist’s Balearic masterpiece Nyanser to be that one — but because it’s the one that sounds the most honest to where I come from. Thomas Almqvist’s The Journey was his second…
Pictures: Pictures (1983)

2017/11/03

I’m still floored that such an album like Pictures exists and that it exists in such an arrested state of discovery. In 1983, Andy Stennett and John Rocca, of influential British electro-funk group Freeez, decide to hide away from their record label and sure chart-topping success (courtesy of their infamous/ubiquitous hits, “Southern Freeez” and “IOU”)…
Kenji Omura: Gaijin Heaven (1983)

2017/07/19

Power can manifest itself in many ways. Power isn’t always in the density of something but in the lightness of it. Kenji Omura’s spirited take on funk, sophisticated pop, and so many other smooth genres comes together into one powerful album: Gaijin Heaven. The late, great Kenji Omura, one time or some time YMO guitarist,…
Coste Apetrea: Airborne (1989)

2017/05/19

I am you. You are me, Coste Apetrea Airborne cover man. I feel you, ADIDAS sweatpants-tucked-in-full-length-fishing boots man. I get you, oversized-cardigan-above-open-buttoned-linen-shirted-friend. I know you, man trapped in between seasons dude. Is it warm enough to put away winter’s festoons and enjoy warmer moods with cooler duds? Your picture doesn’t tell me the full story.
Flávio Venturini: Nascente (1981)

2017/04/04

There are few albums that just put me in a special place. Flávio Venturini’s Nascente is one of them. When it’s on, it seems my whole spirit bends to its will. Overrun with string instruments, mostly warm-sounding, and some of the most captivatingly tender harmonies on any side of the hemisphere, or era, Nascente just has…
Joan Bibiloni: Joana Lluna (1982)

2016/12/30

I had a really hard time trying to justify posting this album. Not because the album isn’t great – it truly is – but because it didn’t seem this time of the year was appropriate for it. Joan Bibiloni’s Joana Lluna is the first masterpiece by the Mallorcan balearic master. What you hear in Joana…
Mix: 2. Quiet Departures

2016/12/19

All I could think about while creating this second mix was Kapalbhati Pranayama. I wanted to treat you to two hours of music that exactly presented what this idea means to me. Kapalbhati Pranayama is the sanskrit phrase for “Breath of Fire”. In a cross-legged, seated position one tries to create internal heat without actually moving the…