Ronnie Mathews - Trip To The Orient

barabara sounds sez:

Ronnie Mathews leading a trio on East Wind, recorded and issued in 1975. By then, he'd been around for almost 20 years, working with some of the major players but never making much of a name for himself. This was just his second album as a leader (the first was back in '63, on Prestige with Freddie Hubbard in the band). 

No doubt because it was on a "minor" label issued in "the Orient", this one has mostly fallen through the cracks... But it's well worth your time, especially the tracks Jean-Marie and, my favorite, the hip, slinky Manha do Carnival for which he moves to Fender.

     

Factoid: "Ichiban" literally means "first", or "number one". But back in the day it was slang (among non-Japanese) for "outstanding", "great", etc. All these tracks are ichiban.

There's more about Ronnie Mathews here on Wiki and from his obit in the NYT...

personnel:
Ronnie Mathews, piano; Yoshio Suzuki, bass; Louis Hayes on drums

tracks:
Ichiban; Manha do Carnival; Linda; K's Waltz; Jean-Marie; When Sunny Gets Blue; Summertime

Samurai Era — 15 lost grooves from the land of the rising sun

barabara sounds sez:

Another compilation, but this time highlighting the wealth of homegrown jazz talent that has emerged at this end of the planet. Despite the subtitle, few of the 15 tracks here are actually "lost" — and weren't even in 1999 when this album came out. In fact a number of them were/became club standards, not least Teruo Nakamura's TBM classic Umma Be Me (which is of course by Hubert Eaves, was recorded in NYC and features all US jazzmen apart from Nakamura himself, which hardly makes it "from the land of the rising sun").

And there lies both the weakness and strength of this collection: it's aimed at those discovering j-jazz through the clubs. Nothing wrong there at all. I just fast-forward/program out the overly-slick numbers by Zerosen and Imada — yes, and Hino-san too (sad to say) — to get to the core nuggets. From the chilled opening track by Isao Suzuki to Kawaguchi with Art Blakey to the percussive gems by Ponta Murakami and Shiraki's Stereo Drums, there's plenty to groove on here. 

Best of the lot? Most times round, my vote goes to Poo-Sun Kikuchi's La Moca Está Domingo, from Wishes/Kochi, his brilliant album on East Wind (Hino is in stellar form here, happily). But don't sleep on the curiosities: Masayoshi Takanaka's Star Wars Samba and Pecker's strangely named Dr. Dr. Humanity – yes that's for real: try googling it ;-)... Now there's one that really was lost from sight!

The Pentagon

barabara sounds sez:  

Straightahead down-the-line jazziness from this not-quite-supergroup which came together to record in Japan back in 1976. Not the most challenging or progressive side ever issued by the East Wind label, but still well deserving of several listens. As before, this one has seen the light of day a couple of times before in the blogosphere — but there's never any harm is spreading the good stuff around some more. [And yes, it's nothing to do with the US military…]

dusty sez: 

Pretty soulful stuff – and a unique one-off group that features Cedar Walton, Clifford Jordan, Sam Jones, Billy Higgins, and Ray Mantilla – the first four of whom had played together often at the time, and who receive some nice added percussive support from Mantilla for the set! Tunes have a laidback grooving stye – mostly soulbop with some slight Latin touches…

scott (all music) yawno sez:

Originally released by the Japanese East Wind label and made available briefly domestically on an LP from the defunct Inner CIty label, this quartet outing features pianist Cedar Walton, the underrated tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Billy Higgins; Ray Mantilla adds his congas to three of the six selections. The group performs fresh versions of five jazz standards (including "Manteca," Kenny Dorham's "Una Mas," and Lester Young's D.B. Blues") plus Jordan's "He Is a Hero." Superior to Walton's RCA recordings of this period and his upcoming output for Columbia, this obscure effort finds all of the musicians playing up to their usual level of creativity.

Oliver Nelson - Stolen Moments

barabara sounds sez:

Such a great composition deserves a whole album named after it. Maybe this version isn't quite up there with the all-time classic track on the much better known Blues and... album, but it's still one of the great tracks. The rest of the album is none too shabby either. No matter how it's spelled, Yeanin' [sic] is great — and the cut-down speeded-up Straight No Chaser is just brilliant. With nine in the aggregation it feels like a stripped-down big-band, but at the same time it's anchored squarely in contemporary mode by the electric rhythm section.

dusty sez:

One of the last sessions Oliver Nelson cut, recorded in the mid 70s for the Japanese East Wind label, and one of our favorites, a nice soul jazz sleeper. The band includes Bobby Bryant, Jerome Richardson, Mike Wofford, and Shelly Manne, with a nice 6 piece front line, so the horn parts sound nice & full. The rhythm section features electric piano and bass, so the sound is a bit more modern, but we love the readings they do of classics like Nelson's "Stolen Moments" and there's a great groover kicking off the second side, "Mission Accomplished".

personnel:

Oliver Nelson alto sax; Jack Nimitz baritone sax; Jerome Richardson soprano sax, flute; Buddy Collette, Bobby Bryant Jr. tenor sax, flute; Bobby Bryant trumpet, flugelhorn; Mike Wofford piano; Chuck Domanico bass; Shelly Manne drums

tracks:

Stolen Moments; St. Thomas; Three Seconds; Mission Accomplished; Midnight Blue;  Yeanin' [yes it's misspelt]; Straight No Chaser.

blurb:

While it was also issued on the Inner City label in the US, this is from the East Wind imprint . Whichever way, even the CD still appears to be OOP. Ish posted a rip several years back on the one and only (and now both late and lamented) Ile Oxumare. Just in case anyone overlooked it there...

Kohsuke Mine - Out Of Chaos

barabara sounds sez:

Fine flowing modal music from Mine and his crew (a crack team of the usual j-jazz suspects) from back in '74. This was one of Mine's first outings after switching from alto to tenor and definitely one of his best ever. Also one of the first albums on the very righteous East Wind label. The stately lyrical second track (by Kikuchi) is a standout here, sandwiched between the two high-power numbers penned by Mine.

The concept for the cover art is questionable (red gloop as a representation of chaos? Or maybe the art director used this image because s/he was clean out of chaos?). But when it comes to the music, there's nothing lacking here whatsoever! [ripped from the CD reissue]

personnel:

Mine Kohsuke tenor sax; Kikuchi Masabumi piano; Okada Tsutomu bass; Hino Motohiko drums

tracks:

Recollection; Little Abi; Cross Wind