Masaru Imada Quartet - Now!!

barabara sounds sez:
Now! more from the TBM catalog, but this time not from my archives. Instead, it's another outstanding share from bongohito — who also contributed that awesome threesome over at Bacoso's place just recently. This was (I do believe) Imada's first album as a leader – though he recorded Maki in the same year with the same band – and it's a real corker.

Side 1 gets us under way in languid late-night mood, with Nostalgia, a stately ballad that gives Mimori a chance to open up on tenor. Next up is Alter, which opens with the spotlight on Ozu and Mizuhashi before developing into free exploration with plenty more good work by Mimori. But it's Side 2 that really delivers, two fantastic tracks, the mighty modal Gehi Dorian, which really cuts loose with a righteous groove. To close Imada and his crew dial it back a bit, and go out in lyrical style with The Shadow.

somebody else (can't find an attribution) sez:

Now! by Masaru Imada was the second album released by the fledgling Three Blind Mice label and the pianist's first leader album for the label. All four tunes are Imada's original compositions. The two slow numbers – "Nostalgia" and "The Shadow of the Castle" show his lyrical, "quiet but emotional" qualities. "Alter" is an adventurous tune whose focus is on free improvisation while "Gehi Dorian" is a modal composition as the title suggests.

musicians: 

Masaru Imada piano; Ichiro Mimori tenor & soprano sax; Takashi Mizuhashi bass; Masahiko Ozu drums

tracks:

1. Nostalgia; 2. Alter; 3 Gehi Dorian; 4. The Shadow of the Castle

TBM-2; recorded August 10/11, 1970 at Aoi Studio, Tokyo; reissued on SACD 2000