Frommer's Tokyo,

Pianist Satoko Fujii introduces a new trio with two younger and very active musicians on the Japanese jazz scene–bassist Takashi Sugawa and drummer Ittetsu Takemura–recording in 2020 at Pit Inn in Tokyo for their 3rd live date together, performing five lyrical Fujii original compositions, including "Aspirations" from her album with Leo Smith & Ikue Mori.

The 3rd album of Tokyo Shoegazer, which is the first time in about 9 years since the dissolution. Mastering is done by Dave Cooley, who has worked on many popular overseas artists such as M83, DIIV, Tame Impara, Wolf Alice, etc. at an American studio.

With the inevitable heat of summer already making itself at home, there’s few options so tempting as to roll down the windows and embrace the enthusiastic nostalgia of melodic rock brought by the uplifting graces of Tokyo Motor Fist and the vibrant charm of their latest album. “Lions” is so sweet and smooth that listening to it feels almost like a guilty indulgence, something that one would sneak a taste of alone in the kitchen by the blue light of an open fridge. There’s something raw and authentic about it that makes it instantly irresistible for fans of melodic hard rock at any point from the 80s to the present. Tokyo Motor Fist have captured the most decadent tones of melodic rock and are releasing a bright ray of sonic sunshine in a world that certainly needs that pure brand of brightness…

Founded in 1969 at the Juilliard School of Music, the Tokyo Quartet have amassed a fine and distinguished array of recordings for various labels, many enthusiastically received. In 2013 they disbanded after their longest serving members, the second violin Kikuei Ikeda and viola Kazuhide Isomura, decided to retire. Their final concert took place in Norfolk, Connecticut on 6 July 2013. For the last ten years of their existence, they were contracted to the Harmonia Mundi stable.

It is rare to find a disc as creatively programmed as this BIS release. Enhanced by lovely performances, played with great devotion to the memory of the recently-deceased Japanese master, the repertoire was chosen by conductor Tadaaki Otaka and producer Robert Suff, who organized it not only in the most effective succesion, but in a manner that illustrates the works’ individual meaning and illuminates Takemitsu’s career. All but one of the compositions are from Takemitsu’s late period. The other, the Requiem for Strings, is one of the earliest works to win him fame. Fantasma/Cantos II, for trombone and orchestra, is among the last Takemitsu compositions. Both it and the Requiem provide considerably more forward harmonic motion than the other four works, which are in Takemitsu’s typical “Japanese garden” meditative style, a kind of revival of French impressionism using harmonies that are more like Messiaen’s than Debussy’s.