1000 For Keyboards

Masabumi Kikuchi - One Way Traveller (1982) {2016 Japan Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000 Series SICJ 170}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 285 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 97 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 259 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1982, 2016 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 170
Jazz / Fusion / Electric Jazz / Jazz Funk / Keyboards

Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. A gem of a record from Japanese keyboardist Masabumi Kikuchi – one of those massive Japanese fusion classics that was partly recorded overseas, partly here in the US – with a sound that brings together all the best soulful aspects of both scenes! Kikuchi can create some really weird, wonderful sounds when he wants – but can also slide into a groove with the best of them – and, given the vintage of the record, may well be more inventive than Herbie Hancock ever was at this point in his career! The lineup's filled with great talents – trumpeter Terumasa Hino, reedman Steve Grossman, and guitarist James Mason – coming together wonderfully on titles that include "Sky Talk", "Madjap Express", "Alacalder", and "Sum Dum Fun".

Azar Lawrence - People Moving (1976) {2014 Japan Rare Groove Funk Best Collection 1000 UCCO-90361}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 265 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 91 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 185 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1976, 2014 Prestige / Concord / Universal Music Japan | UCCO-90361
Jazz / Post Bop / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Saxophone

Reissue with the latest remastering. Stellar reed work from Azar Lawrence – a player who's best known for his acoustic revival in recent years, but who could play with some excellent electric backings during the 70s! The set's less an electric funk outing than it is a spiritual jazz set, with keyboards and guitar in the mix – beautifully put together by the young Skip Scarborough, with a feel that's very similar to Gary Bartz's work with Larry Mizell!

Sadao Watanabe - Orange Express (1981) {2016 Japan Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000 Series SICJ 167}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 334 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 116 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 312 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1981, 2016 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 167
Jazz / Fusion / Groove / Crossover Jazz / Saxophone / Flute

Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. Sadao Watanabe hits a sweet fusiony groove – riding the Orange Express to LA, and picking up some great Dave Grusin arrangements on the way! The album's got the sweetly soulful finish of others from the classic years of Japanese fusion – a style that's as much influenced by mainstream soul as it is by jazz – but which comes across with some top-shelf playing throughout, thanks to a lineup that includes George Benson, Bobby Broom, Eric Gale, Richard Tee, and Marcus Miller – not to mention Watanabe and Grusin themselves! Titles include "Orange Express", "Ride On", "Straight To The Top", "Mbali Africa", and "Bagamoyo/Zanzibar".

Masabumi Kikuchi - Susto +2 (1981) {2016 Japan Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000 Series SICJ 169}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 411 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 131 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 289 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1981, 2016 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 169
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Funk / Keyboards

Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. A great album of funky Japanese fusion – one of the few sets from the Japanese scene of the late 70s that got any sort of wider release in the US – and a treasure that we've loved for years! The set's got a really great sound – soulful and funky, but sharp too – in a lineup that features a variety of keyboards from Masabumi Kikuchi, plus work by Terumasa Hino on trumpet, Steve Grossman and Dave Liebman on saxes, and James Mason on guitar! The best cuts have a funky feel that's in the CTI/Kudu mode – perhaps mixed with a bit of Herbie Hancock keyboard jamming – and the album's a surprisingly lost funky gem in the Columbia catalog of the early 80s, with a much harder edge than some of the other work on the label at the time!

James Brown - Bodyheat (1976) {2014 Japan Rare Groove Funk Best Collection 1000 UICY-76591}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 269 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 88 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1976, 2014 Polydor / Universal Music Japan | UICY-76591
Funk / R'n'B / Soul / Funky Jam

'BODYHEAT' was originally released in December 1976 as Polydor-1-6093 in a striking jacket illustrated by Virginia Team. The title cut's single release was his last highest charting single (#13 R&B) until "Living In America" in 1985 (#4 Pop, #10 R&B). A clavinet based funk-er, it features a steadier beat somewhere between his usual funk and straight disco. In fact the back cover of the album announced "James Brown - Brand New Sound." Surprisingly, the rest of the original album's Side One consisted of two ballads, the almost four years stale "It's A Man's, Man's World" retread "Woman," and the much better "Kiss In '77" which deserved more than it's #35 R&B showing. Brown seemed to favor the atypically restrained ballad, featuring it in his concerts for years after it's release.

Herbie Mann - First Light - The Family of Mann (1973) {2014 Japan Fusion Best Collection 1000 Series WPCR-28032)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 249 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 90 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit remaster
© 1973, 2012 Atlantic / Warner Japan | WPCR-28032 / 8122-79568-5
Jazz / Fusion / Soul Jazz / Flute

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Pretty great stuff – and a record that's often hidden amidst the flurry of so-so Herbie Mann albums from the mid 70s – but is well worth seeking out! The Family Of Mann group is one organized by Herbie Mann, and featuring Steve Gadd on drums, Pat Rebillot on keyboards, Tony Levin on bass, and David Newman on reeds along with Herbie – a combo who backed up Mann on some other records from the time, but who really get to shine center stage here! The band has a strong electric groove on their best moments – with kind of a choppy fusion groove, but one that's tight too – almost funky, at a level that's somewhere near cop/crime soundtrack work of the time. Rebillot's keyboards are great, as always.

Arista All Stars - Blue Montreux (1978) {2014 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 368 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 18 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1978, 2014 Arista / Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICP 4266
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Funk

Reissue. Comes with new liner notes. A sweet session of 70s electric jazz – recorded as a unique live all-star outing by a group of Arista's best jazz players at the time! The group's an octet, but plays together in differing formations throughout the record – with Warren Bernhardt on keyboards, Michael Brecker on saxes, Randy Brecker on trumpet, Steve Jordan on drums, Steve Khan and Larry Coryell on guitars, Tony Levin on bass, and Mike Maineri on vibes – the last of which really make for some of the best numbers on the album! Bernhardt's keyboards are pretty good too – stepping out with a spacious, fluid feel that's never jamming – and more in the open-ended Bob James side of the spectrum, although his overall sound is a lot different than Bob's! Titles include "Blue Montreux", "Rocks", "I'm Sorry", "Floating".

Charles Earland - Coming To You Live (1980) {2016 Japan Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000 Series SICJ 141}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 274 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 105 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 297 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1980, 2016 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 141
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Groove / Organ

Reissue with the latest 2016 remastering. Comes with liner notes. One of Charles Earland's sweet albums from his years at Columbia Records – done in a mode that's much more R&B than his earliest work, but in a style that's still A-OK with us! The groove here is greatly helped out by arrangements from Tom Washington, Weldon Irvine, and Marcus Miller – all great talents for mixing soul into Earland's jazzier keyboards – yet in a way that still keeps all of the best elements intact! Many of the tracks feature vocals, but in a gently soulful way that glides in nicely alongside the keys – and speaking of keys, Charles plays Fender Rhodes and Arp here in addition to his usual organ.