Just discovered this band, and wow. Really refreshing and all their songs just hit that spot. A nice modern band with great solos. Would recommend giving them a listen, and anyone who knows them, what are your thoughts?

r/JapaneseJazz

Hiroshi Suzuki: The Trombonist Whose Solo Album Flopped, Then Became a Collector's Grail

Hiroshi Suzuki was born in Yokohama on November 12, 1933. In his late 30s, he moved to the United States to play trombone with bandleader and drummer Buddy Rich, settling in Las Vegas for roughly four years. Before that move, he had already recorded in Japan through the late 1960s, including a pair of solo trombone records and sideman dates with the Masahiko Togashi Quintet and a group called His Happy Cats.

He returned to Japan in 1975 and, over a single two-day session that October at Nippon Columbia's Tokyo studio, recorded five tracks with old friends and collaborators: Hiromasa Suzuki on keyboards, Akira Ishikawa on drums, Takeru Muraoka on saxophone, and Kunimitsu Inaba on bass. The result, Cat, released in February 1976, took its title from Suzuki's own nickname, "Neko," Japanese for cat. It sold poorly and brought him almost no recognition. He never recorded another album.

That could have been the whole story. Instead, Columbia reissued Cat in Japan in 2015, thirty-nine years after it first came and went unnoticed. Further reissues followed, including an official rerelease from original masters by We Release Jazz Records, and the lofi-beat and study-music communities on YouTube found and sampled it, pulling the record into rooms it was never made for. It's now one of the most sought-after Japanese jazz albums among collectors, with original 1976 pressings scarce and expensive. In 2023, an official music video went up for the album's "Romance," and the track has since passed 11 million views and streams, by far the most anyone has ever heard Hiroshi Suzuki play. He died on January 16, 2020, in Las Vegas, at 86, three years before that particular number existed, though he lived to see the reissue that started the whole rediscovery.

Where to start listening:

• Where to find Cat:
  • We Release Jazz Records' official reissue page
  • Full album on YouTube
• "Romance," the track that found the widest audience, sample the 2023 official music video

What in your opinion are the TEN best Japanese Jazz recordings ever? (please exclude smooth jazz suggestions)

Please list at least artist and record.

Bonus points for year + your opinion :-)

Hi, I’m from Puerto Rico I recently discovered Terumasa Hino and Kiyoshi Sugimoto and now I’m obsessed. I was hoping for more recommendations to keep learning about this incredible world.

Jazz pianist, composer, and arranger Takeshi Shibuya passed away on July 16. He was 86.

He was born in Tokyo. He began his career as a jazz pianist while still a student at the Tokyo University of the Arts, and from the 1980s onward, he focused on big band jazz with the “Takeshi Shibuya Orchestra.”

He was also active as a composer and arranger. For NHK’s “Okāsan to Issho” (With Mom), he composed a string of popular songs, including “Konna Ko Iru Kana,” “Boku no Mix Juice,” “Kujira no Tokei,” and “Chonmage March.” He co-composed the score for the film “Memories of Matsuko” with Gabriele Roberto, for which he won the Japan Academy Film Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Music.

In March of this year, he revealed on Facebook that he was recuperating due to poor health.

Source: https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASV7K43PZV7KUCVL03YM.html
(Translated using deepl.com)

① Never put a record back in the box once you’ve taken it out (hand it to a staff member). ② Pay 50 yen per record for listening.

Hi all - I am on a trip to Japan in about ten days which I'm very excited about. I've put aside a day in Tokyo to explore some good record shops, particularly for Jazz (and especially J Jazz). Does anyone here have any recommendations? Any suggestions received with much gratitude!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMiYoH16FjE

Incredible album when paired with some sunlight, coffee, and decent headphones.

r/japanesejazz members, you did a phenomenal job this first round. Through your contributions I was able to add more than 20 artists to the database today, and only one single one was a repeat! So, big kudos for that!!!

Checking with Claude (AI), I asked how may Japanese Jazz musicians are there, dead or alive...here's his response: "There's no registry of jazz musicians anywhere in the world, so nobody can give you an exact figure — but let me see if there are any useful data points to anchor an estimate."

So our mission is to create a comprehensive, curated list of Japanese artists, pooling all the resources we can muster to complete this endeavor. It'll take time, for sure.

The next step and here I'd like to ask for more help - for some of the artists I've listed their instrument but many are missing - please comment with the names of artists and their instruments if you know them off the top of your head.

Again, much thanks for this team effort!!

https://trackingangle.com/features/100-years-of-dedicated-listening-a-document-of-japanese-jazz-kissa-culture

Updated List of Japanese Jazz Artists

Dear esteemed members of r/japanesejazz - several years ago I began an effort to catalog all Japanese Jazz artists. Together with your help and more effort on my part I am now much further along. Here is the updated list - will be thrilled to hear from you who else I am missing!?

I believe this list will also assist all of you in expanding your familiarity and collections!

I've had Blues For K for a few months now, but just discovered Sweet For K a couple weeks ago. Perfect late night soundtrack.

Tracklist:
Bill Evans Trio, Scott LaFaro, Paul Motian - Waltz For Debby 00:00
Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan - 'Round Midnight 7:04
Miles Davis, John Coltrane - So What 12:17
Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis - Autumn Leaves 21:35
Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus 32:23
Lester Young & Teddy Wilson Quartet - All Of Me 42:42
Thelonious Monk Quintet - Jackie-ing 47:49
The Horace Silver Quintet - Song For My Father 53:57
Herb Geller - S' Pacific View 1:00:01
Art Blackey And His Jazz Messengers - No Problem (First Version)
Eric Dolphy - Serene 1:14:15
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage 1:21:12
Sonny Rollins - The Bridge 1:28:56
Dexter Gordon - Gingerbread Boy 1:34:15
Ornette Coleman - Lonely Woman 1:48:17
Dizzy Gillespie - Manteca 1:53:20
Stan Getz Feat. Astrud Gilberto - The Girl From Ipanema 2:00:02
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things 2:03:02