2016 Japan Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000 Series

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 - 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".

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!

Terumasa Hino - Double Rainbow (1981) {2016 Japan Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000 Series SICJ 218}
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© 1981, 2016 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 218
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Funk / Cornet

Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. Beautiful work from trumpeter Terumasa Hino – an early 80s date that was issued in the US, but one that's got as much bold power and freewheeling soul as his Japanese releases from a decade before! The album's surprisingly open for the time – not in the slicker mode that Columbia was hitting as they crossed over some of their 70s fusion players, but in spacious territory that has Hino blowing cornet, in larger arrangements from keyboardist Masabumi Kikuchi and Gil Evans – the latter of whom seems to contribute a strong sense of color and tone to the album! The lineup is great, too – and features both Herbie Hancock and Kenny Kirkland on keyboards, Steve Grossman on reeds, Harvey Mason and Lenny White on drums, Anthony Jackson on bass, and Airto on percussion.

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.

This would become the last album of Herbie Hancock’s very controversial Disco/Pop era.
For songwriting he worked together with Rod Temperton who’s probably most famous for writing “Thriller” by Michael Jackson… Starting in 2014, the "Crossover & Fusion 1000" series has been newly launched as a spin-off project of the popular "Jazz Collection 1000" series. As with the jazz series, carefully selected from a wealth of catalogs owned by Sony Music centered on two major American labels, Columbia and RCA.