Deep Jazz Reality

The biggest volume so far in the Spiritual Jazz series from Jazzman Records – and maybe the best as well! This fantastic collection looks at the huge legacy of spiritual jazz that flowed from the Japanese scene in the postwar years – sounds that had their initial expression around the same time that the modal jazz of Miles and Coltrane was bursting forth in the US, but which also too so many twists and turns of its own – with some very strong influences along the way from Japanese folk and culture! Much of this music was initially restricted only to release on Japanese labels – and even later, as some of the artists attained fame, the global circulation of their music only happened with more commercial recordings.

Terumasa Hino - Journey To Air (1970) {2018 Octave Lab Japan OTLCD2383}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download -> 348 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 128 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 1970, 2018 Deep Jazz Reality / Octave Lab | OTLCD2383
Jazz / Deep Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Trumpet

Trumpeter Terumasa Hino at a level that's quite different than most of his early work in Japan – recording in New York, and using a very spiritual approach – one that's clearly influenced by some of the other players in the session! The album features one long track – a bit improvised, and almost free at times – but also given a strong sense of direction, too – that balance between completely unbridled expression and structure that can make some of the best spiritual jazz sessions so great! Hino's on trumpet, and also plays some flugelhorn – and other players include Steve Grossman on tenor and flute, Pete Yellin on alto and flute, Dave Liebman on alto and tenor, Olu Dara on trumpet, Bob Moses on drums, Dave Holland on bass, and Mike Garson on piano and Fender Rhodes.

Takeshi Shibuya - Cook Note (1977) {2018 Octave Lab OTLCD2357}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download -> 259 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 101 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1977, 2018 Trio Records / Deep Jazz Reality / Octave Lab | OTLCD2357
Jazz / Post Bop / Contemporary Jazz / Piano

Takeshi Shibuya is a Japanese jazz pianist who also worked as a film composer. Takeshi Shibuya worked in the Tokyo jazz scene from the late 1960s a. a. with Nobuo Hara, with whom the first recordings were made in 1969/70. In the 1970s he played with Masayuki Takayanagi, Kunihiko Sugano and Shun Sakai, and he also arranged for the singer Ryoko Moriyama. In 1975 he made his debut album Dream, a live recording from Club Pannonica in Kagoshima with Tatsuhiro Matsumoto (bass) and Yoshitaka Uematsu or Sumiaki Matsushima (drums); 1977 followed the trio album Cook Note (Trio Records, with Tamio Kawabata, Shoichi Miyazawa), 1982 the solo album Shibyan !. From the 1980s he also accompanied the vocalists Maki Asakawa, Akira Sakata and Hideko Okiyama.

Funky, fuzzy - a really wonderful set of extended psychedelic jazz numbers from twin tenorists Takeru Muraoka and Takao Uematsu! The set's billed as a live tenor "battle" on the cover - but it's hardly the sort of record that you'd hear from American players in this mode - no bebop jams, and instead some great soul and funk-influenced lines on the horns, served up over rhythm from a trio that features electric piano, electric bass, and drums from the mighty Motohiko Hino! There's a nice degree of fuzz on the saxes at times (are they using some effects pedals?) - and the long tunes really open up with a wicked groove that feels like some lost US jazz funk album from the early 70s.

Terumasa Hino - Peace & Love (1970) {2018 Octave Lab OTLCD2384}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download -> 317 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 116 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 1970, 2018 Deep Jazz Reality / Octave Lab | OTLCD2384
Jazz / Post Bop / Spiritual Jazz / Trumpet

Groundbreaking work from Japanese trumpeter Terumasa Hino – recorded on an early trip to New York, back in 1970, working with a sextet that includes some of his own Japanese players, like drummer Motohiko Hino and pianist Hideo Ichikawa, plus the great American bassist Reggie Workman! The album features 2 very long tracks – "Gongen" and "Peace & Love" – both a bit free, and infused with a post-Coltrane sense of spiritual exploration. Hino's really changing his style a lot in this setting – taking a lot more chances than on earlier Japanese sessions, reaching out towards a future jazz approach for the 70s.

Richard Beirach - Methuselah (1975) {Japan Trio Records Mini LP SHM-CD POCS-9307 rel 2014}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 169 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 81 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 7 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1975, 2014 Trio Records / Universal Japan | POCS-9307 | Deep Jazz Reality Series
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Jazz Funk / Piano / Rhodes

Cardboard sleeve reissue features 24bit digital remastering and SHM-CD format. Comes with original liner notes Japanese original release. A gem of a 70s session from pianist Richie Beirach – one that has him playing Fender Rhodes as well as piano – an instrument he uses with some really amazing styles! The outing's a trio date, but it's got a vibe that's quite different than both some of Beirach's American material from the time, and from some of the other Japanese piano trio sets of the period – a very open, creative approach that has Richie stepping out in all these really cool ways, especially on the Rhodes – styles that are angular, but never too free – rhythmic, but never funky at all – thanks to inventive performances from Frank Tusa on bass and Jeff Williams on percussion.

Terumasa Hino - A Part (1971) {2018 Octave Lab OTLCD2385}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download -> 364 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 129 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1971, 2018 Canyon / Deep Jazz Reality / Octave Lab | OTLCD2385
Jazz / Post Bop / Spiritual Jazz / Trumpet

A fantastic collaboration between Japanese trumpeter Terumasa Hino and avant bassist Reggie Workman – one that might seem unusual if you only know Hino's later work, but which was part of a few key collaborations that Hino and Workman did together at the start of the 70s – part of a real spiritual awakening in the trumpeter's music! The tracks are long and very expressive – and the group is mostly Japanese – with Hino on trumpet, Workman on bass, Motohiko Hino on drums, Kiyoshi Sugimoto on guitar, Mideo Ichikawa on electric piano, Yuji Imamura on conga, and Takao Uematsu on bass clarinet and tenor – all working together in a spirit that's clearly caught the imagination of the post-Coltrane years, and which is completely different than the straighter hardbop that Hino was recording just a few years previously.