Japan And Ghost

Lennie Tristano - Tristano (1955) {Atlantic Japan, 30XD-1036, Early Press}
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© 1955, 1988 Atlantic / Warner Japan | 30XD-1036
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Piano

Lennie Tristano's Atlantic debut was a controversial album at the time of its release. Though Tristano was regarded as a stellar and innovative bebop pianist, he had been absent from recording for six years and had founded a jazz school where he focused instead on teaching. The first four tunes on this set shocked the jazz world at the time of their release (though not critic Barry Ulanov, who was Tristano's greatest champion and wrote the liner notes for the set). The reason was that on those four original tunes – "Line Up," "Requiem," "Turkish Mambo," and "East Thirty-Second" – Tristano actually overdubbed piano lines, and sped the tape up and down for effect.

An elegant and sophisticated pianist, his encyclopedic harmonic approach and wide range of his repertory made him one of the most distinctive jazz pianists to come out of Chicago, gaining the respect of local and visiting musicians for his notable mastery of the instrument.

Toru Takemitsu - Film Music by Toru Takemitsu (2006) {7CD Box Set Victor Entertainment Japan VICG-60593~9}
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© 2006 Victor Entertainment Japan | VICG-60593~9
Classical / Film Score / Contemporary Classical / Avant-Garde / Modern Composition

These are probably the rarest Takemitsu recordings around. Toru Takemitsu composed music for at least 70 films (I have read that it's actually around 90 but I haven't researched this) and the music can be exceptionally wide-ranging: traditional Japanese soloists and ensembles, Western classical tradition, avant-garde and everything in between (jazzy lounge and space age music, anyone?) I feel that some of his best film scores are those which have his delicate Debussian touches combined with traditional Asian music and soloists.

Dizzy Reece - Soundin' Off (1960) {Japan MiniLP Blue Note RVG, TOCJ-9513 rel 2003}
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© 1960, 2003 Blue Note Japan / Toshiba | TOCJ-9513
Jazz / Hard Bop / Trumpet

Soundin' Off is a solid quartet outing with pianist Walter Bishop Jr., bass player Doug Watkins and Taylor; but the absence of a flinty frontline partner and a greater reliance on standards (there's only one Reece tune on the date) gives the album a more generic feel than the others. The up side is that Reece airs out his chops on a variety of vehicles, spanning torchy ballads like "Ghost of a Chance" and boppin' romps on the "I Got Rhythm" template "Eb Pob" by Fats Navarro. The album provides a comprehensive picture of Reece's abilities as a trumpeter; the rub is that he was also a fine composer, and the lone original, a straight-up blues, doesn't adequately represent that aspect of his music.

Not the first but definitely the most popular rock instrumental combo, the Ventures scored several hit singles during the 1960s – most notably "Walk-Don't Run" and "Hawaii Five-O" – but made their name in the growing album market, covering hits of the day and organizing thematically linked LPs. Almost 40 Ventures' albums charted, and 17 hit the Top 40…

In Jersey City, an African American hit man follows "Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai." He lives alone, in simplicity with homing pigeons for company