The Masaru Imada Trio

Masaru Imada is a Japanese jazz pianist and composer. For his seventh record for the Three Blind Mice label, Imada decided to do an all standards album with his regular trio. Imada's piano style is straight forward and honest: He doesn't emply any gimmicks or pyrotechnics. Yet, his performance is very swinging and has a singing character. While firmly rooted in the American jazz piano tradition, his voicings and time-feel are uniquely his own.

BBE Music welcomes pianist Aki Takase to the J Jazz Masterclass reissue series, with her 1982 live album ‘Song for Hope’.

Our Staff Selections are carefully curated highlights of our favourite tracks from the year.
2022 has been another year of consistent quality music from BBE. The fantastic J Jazz series rolls on with 5 releases this year, whilst we have also issued highly sought after Jazz re- presses from Norway and Germany, both of which have been fetching insane prices via online collectors. BBE also released an album from the legendary composer and artist Brian Jackson who received Worldwide fm’s lifetime achievement award this year.

BBE Music presents J Jazz volume 3, the latest in its definitive compilation series exploring the finest modern jazz from Japan.Since the first volume in February 2018, the J Jazz compilation series has showcased some of the most creative, inspired, and sought-after jazz recorded in Japan during a golden period spanning the 1960s to the 1980s. Illustrating the richness and versatility of the composers and musicians on this collection, the music spans a wide yet coherent range of styles: samba, funk fusion, modal, spiritual, post-bop, and bossa all combine to present an aural portrait of a jazz scene that was constantly moving and shifting its multiple musical centres of gravity.

Ryo Fukui is a jazz pianist based in Sapporo. Not well known in Japan, he recorded "Early Summer" in 1976, which has been praised overseas as a representative example of "Japanese jazz. Just as Japanese "city pop" is highly regarded overseas, Japanese jazz is now a legacy of which Japan should be proud. Moreover, many of the Japanese jazz albums that overseas fans love so much do not have such high domestic sales and name recognition in comparison to their reputation. This collection of popular "Japanese jazz" songs, which attracts music fans around the world solely through the "power of sound," is a must-have for any music lover. Experience the charm of Japan as seen from a foreign country.

Ryo Fukui is a jazz pianist based in Sapporo. Not well known in Japan, he recorded "Early Summer" in 1976, which has been praised overseas as a representative example of "Japanese jazz. Just as Japanese "city pop" is highly regarded overseas, Japanese jazz is now a legacy of which Japan should be proud. Moreover, many of the Japanese jazz albums that overseas fans love so much do not have such high domestic sales and name recognition in comparison to their reputation. This collection of popular "Japanese jazz" songs, which attracts music fans around the world solely through the "power of sound," is a must-have for any music lover. Experience the charm of Japan as seen from a foreign country.