Sicj 57

George Benson - It's Uptown (1966) {2015 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series SICJ 33} (ft. Dr. Lonnie Smith)
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© 1966, 2015 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 33
Jazz / Hard Bop / Jazz Pop / Soul Jazz / Guitar / Organ Hammond B-3

Reissue with the latest remastering. Comes with liner notes. George Benson's first LP for Columbia – a hard, heavy, soul jazz slammer that bears no resemblance to his overproduced work of the 70s! The album's a real cooker – recorded hot on the heels of Benson's classic work on Prestige with the Jack McDuff group, and sounding a lot like McDuff's hard wailing organ jazz of the same time. George is working with a group that features a young Lonnie Smith on organ, plus Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Ronnie Cuber on sax, and Charlie Persip on drums – all tightly coming together, and jamming hard on the album's short cooking tracks. Tracks include "Clockwise", "Jaguar", "Hello Birdie", and "Bullfight". Plus, the CD adds five bonus tracks, including "Sideman", "Minor Chant", and the previously unreleased "J.H. Bossa Nova" and "Clockwise (Alternate Take)".

Phil Woods - Floresta Canto (1975) {2015 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series SICJ 95}
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© 1975, 2015 RCA / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 95
Jazz / Fusion / Hard Bop / Modern Big Band / Latin Jazz / Saxophone

Reissue with the latest remastering. Comes with liner notes. One of those great records from the 70s that makes you say "man, Phil Woods was hip!" The session was cut in London with an electrified big band led by Chris Gunning, and featuring keyboards by the groovy Gordon Beck – kind of a blend of strings, keys, and woodwinds – providing some lush backdrops that allow Phil to really open up on some great solos. The style is similar to Phil's album Images, done with Michel Legrand – but with some more electric touches – and like that album, it's got a wonderfully fluid, lyrical approach that's quite different from the harder-jamming fusion albums Woods cut in Europe. Titles include "Canto De Ossanha", "Sails", "Roses", "Without You", "Jesse", and "O Morro".

The J. J. Johnson Quintet - Dial J. J. 5 (1957) {2015 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series SICJ 22}
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© 1957, 2015 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 22
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Trombone

Reissue with the latest remastering. Comes with liner notes. One of JJ's best from the late 50s – a tightly crackling hardbop set, recorded very much in the manner of his classic JJ Inc album! The sound here is a bit more compact overall – with some shorter tracks that really allow Johnson to display his keen sense of economy on his horn, while working in a burning mode that recalls some of his best bop sides from the early years – particularly his work on Blue Note.

The J. J. Johnson Sextet - Really Livin' (1959) {2015 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series SICJ 78}
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© 1959, 2015 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 78
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Trombone

Reissue with the latest 2015 remastering. Comes with liner notes. One of the hippest, hardest albums that trombonist JJ Johnson ever cut for Columbia – a session we'd rank right up there with his amazing JJ Inc record, and like that one a really cooking hardbop record that maybe even rivals the best on Blue Note and Prestige at the time! As with that gem, the strength here is really the group – not just tremendous trombone from JJ, but great work from Nat Adderley on trumpet, Bobby Jaspar on tenor and flute, Cedar Walton on piano, Spanky DeBrest on bass, and Albert Heath on drums – all working with a soaring, soulful energy that's a lot more hardbop heavy than you might expect from JJ Johnson on some of his other projects for the label.

George Benson - The George Benson Cookbook (1966) {2015 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series SICJ 34}
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© 1966, 2015 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 34
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Groove / Guitar / Organ Hammond B-3

Reissue with the latest remastering. Comes with liner notes. While the phenomenal success of George Benson’s Breezin’ (1976) album may have fattened his wallet; it led the guitarist down a path that dismayed jazz critics worldwide. Indeed, the bulk of Benson’s albums over the past 20 years have featured considerably less jazz and, unfortunately, more pop. Not so with The George Benson Cookbook (1966). This sizzling CD features the then young, hotshot string-picker on 14 swingin’ bebop/soul-jazz tracks. Benson kicks things off in rapid fashion with the aptly titled, "The Cooker." Not only does this track feature blazing licks from Benson, but baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber and organist Lonnie Smith also weigh in with tasty solos.

Barney Kessel - Kessel's Kit (1969) {2015 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series SICJ 100}
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© 1969, 2015 RCA / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 100
Jazz / Bop / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Soul Jazz / Groove / Guitar

Reissue with the latest remastering. Comes with liner notes. One of Barney Kessel's greatest albums ever – a rare Italian-only session that has a sparkly Brazilian groove! The record was recorded in Rome in 1970, and it's got Kessel's guitar fronting a combo with organ and some very tight percussion – all dancing around in a fast samba mode that's different from virtually anything else he ever recorded – very groovy, very upbeat, and very much what you might expect when the talents of a west coast guitar giant meets the best of the Italian studio scene of the time! There's loads of original tracks on the set – like "Freeway", "Lison", "BJ's Samba", and "On the Riviera" – and the whole thing has a breezy dancing feel that's really wonderful!

Gary Burton - Something's Coming! (1963) {2015 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series SICJ 83}
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© 1963, 2015 RCA / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 83
Jazz / Post Bop / Vibes

Reissue with the latest remastering. Comes with liner notes. The excitement on the cover here is very well-placed – and RCA clearly knows they've got something special on their hands – the launch of vibist Gary Burton as a leader – a force in jazz that would continue strongly for decades to come! At the time of the record, Burton had already been making waves as a session player on the Nashville scene – where RCA had some especially strong ears – but he's launched here in a mode that's quite far from those roots, and already filled with those modern, chromatic modes that would have Burton pushing the sound of the vibes forward strongly throughout his career – even on an early record like this! The group is very like-minded, and well-chosen – players who are spacious and modern, but never too much so – a quartet with Jim Hall on guitar, Chuck Israels on bass, and Larry Bunker on drums.

Masabumi Kikuchi - Susto +2 (1981) {2016 Japan Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000 Series SICJ 169}
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© 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!

Sadao Watanabe - Orange Express (1981) {2016 Japan Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000 Series SICJ 167}
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© 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".

Charles Earland - Coming To You Live (1980) {2016 Japan Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000 Series SICJ 141}
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© 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.