jazz

Mark Nauseef: Wun-Wun (1984)

2019/11/12

Is it jazz? That’s a repetitive refrain that I’ve been proposing lately to this blog. Native New Yorker, Mark Nauseef’s Wun-Wun is classified under the jazz moniker but it doesn’t sound remotely like it. It all begins with percussive motifs that speak of improv and “free” ideas but settle into Pan-Pacific movements that require very…
David Friesen: Inner Voices (1987)

2019/10/15

Here’s hoping this writeup lasts not much longer than David Friesen’s meditative Inner Voices. What exactly was David Friesen’s Inner Voices? Much like Eberhard Weber in Europe, in America, David was that kind of quicksilver, enigmatic, bass player that played on countless “jazz” records spanning from bebop, free jazz, modal, and other chin scratching, heady…
Dagobert Böhm: Acoustic Moods (1987)

2019/10/01

One of my favorite things to see on an album are liner notes listing guitar tunings used within. As a musician myself, I see a certain humility in doing this for others, because in essence you’re exposing some of the magic you had to conjure up for others. I think doing so, I think you’re…
Mario Rosini: Mediterraneo Centrale (1992)

2019/09/24

For those still clinging on to their last bit of summer, there’s always a bit of it near the Mediterranean. Somewhere near Sanremo, I imagine as this centrally-located American, there’s a perfect day being soundtracked by the music on one Mario Rosini (and in this case) joined by Pino Daniele. Balearic du jour, New Age…
Hiroki Miyano (宮野弘紀): D / I/ V /E /R /G /E (分岐点) (1988)

2019/09/20

And now some jazz… *Quietly watches all my readers’ eyes glaze over*. For those who can appreciate the bigger “jazz” picture, here’s Hiroki Miyano’s D / I/ V /E /R /G /E. Showcasing Hiroki Miyano’s wonderfully elegant guitar playing, D / I/ V /E /R /G /E takes great pains not to rock the boat…
Randy Tico: Earth Dance (1990)

2019/08/06

Don’t stop, can’t stop, the dance. Something else to fill your expanding Balearic canon: Randy Tico’s Earth Dance. Not quite jazz, world beat, tribal, or New Age, in 1990, in the dead heat of summer, Randy released on the aptly named Higher Octave Music record label a burner of a New Age album that put…
Inoue · Akira / Acoustic Meeting (井上鑑): Dolphin (1991)

2019/07/31

This is not entirely the way I wanted to introduce everyone to Akira Inoue but I can’t help myself and share Dolphin. It was September 1990, on one fateful night at the some cafe dubbed Heinecken Village in Harajuku, Tokyo that keyboardist extraordinaire Akira Inoue was joined by ex-members of Aragon, Parachute, and Kazumi Band…
Hajime Mizoguchi (溝口肇): A Pretty Dance (1987)

2019/07/26

As long as there is summer and people still want to hear/read about another Hajime Mizoguchi album, I’ll be more than happy to ride on that feeling. Continuing on a very long retrospective on Hajime’s work, see prior posts for his prior work, today we land on another of his wonderfully summer-esque albums — A…
Mich Live: Message From Heart (1986)

2019/04/12

When we last left now Dr. Mitsuru Sawamura, it was 1989 and he had released a wonderful unclassifiable bit of Japanese New Age Jazz on Wacoal’s Newsic label (home of Yoshio Ojima, Motohiko Hamase, and Yoshiaki Ochi). Now, I want us to go back a few years, when he debuted as a solo artist, as…
Brian Slawson: Distant Drums (1988)

2019/04/09

It’s not often you encounter the work of a percussionist who is as wildly as inventive as one can be, yet can be prone to veering off where (he should know better) that none should follow, such is Brian Slawson’s Distant Drums which gets an unequivocal recommendation from me. Mr. Slawson is much like your…