FNK: Canvas
FNK is a group featuring pianist Fumie Chiba, guitarist Nao Teraya, and drummer Kaoru Suzuki, who released their first album...
Harumi Nomoto: I’ll Be Home for Christmas
The 2023 release I’ll Be Home for Christmas is a pleasant holiday collection of seasonal music from Japanese pianist Harumi...
Hideaki Hori & Wataru Hamasaki: Encounter
Encounter is the first album from co-leaders pianist Hideaki Hori and saxophonist Wataru Hamasaki, released in 2008. Since then, in...
Bungalow: Abstract Messages
Abstract Messages is the final record from the group Bungalow, an album created under unique circumstances and with a different...
Seiji Endo: Genji Monogatari Volume 1
Through a beautiful piano sound with deep reverberations, Seiji Endo’s latest solo album releases atmospheric music as if arising from...
Hitomi Nishiyama: Astrolabe
Astrolabe is an imaginative 2012 album from pianist and composer Hitomi Nishiyama. Nishiyama created the songs and this album with...
Yuichi Narita: Urban Nocturne
With many jazz bars and performance opportunities reduced during the pandemic period, musicians used novel approaches to create and record...
Hiro Kimura: Trees
Drummer Hiro Kimura’s debut album from 2022 is Trees, a 61-minute modern jazz album recorded with two of his regular...
Miki Hayama: Prelude to a Kiss
Jazz pianist Miki Hayama’s 2006 album Prelude to a Kiss features beautiful piano jazz improvisation over smart compositions with a...
Yukiko Hayakawa Trio: Gallery
Gallery is the 2008 debut release from jazz pianist Yukiko Hayakawa’s trio, an all-original outing with seven tracks clocking in...
Yasumasa Kumagai & Ryu Kawamura: Ol’ School Jazz
In the style of classic apostrophe-bearing jazz album titles, pianist Yasumasa Kumagai and bassist Ryu Kawamura offer up Ol’ School...
Tetsuji Yoshida & Mikiko Nagatake Duo: Live at Knuttel House
Trumpeter Tetsuji Yoshida and pianist Mikiko Nagatake create new music in old town surroundings on 2021’s Live at Knuttel House....
Manabu Ohishi Trio: Gift
With the jazz album Gift from 2012, pianist and composer Manabu Ohishi reunites the trio from his album Wish (2010)...
Taeko Kurita & Akira Sotoyama: Duo
Pianist Taeko Kurita and drummer Akira Sotoyama present us with Duo, a 2024 live album recorded in 2023 at "Shicho...
Hakuei Kim Trio: Open the Green Door
Modern to the point of futuristic, Open the Green Door features an exciting jazz piano trio with the pianist Hakuei...
Seiji Endo: Tsutaete Ikou
In memory of the lives taken by the devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, three musicians formed...
Yasumasa Kumagai: J-Straight Ahead
The jazz style of pianist/composer Yasumasa Kumagai has always been pinned to the leading edge of modern J Jazz built...
Sachiko Ikuta Trio: Haru No Kaze
A jazz pianist who balances lyricism with boldness, Sachiko Ikuta leads a piano trio on Haru No Kaze (Spring Wind)...
Michiyo Matsushita: Sally Gardens
Pianist Michiyo Matsushita’s Sally Gardens is a lively solo piano album featuring original compositions set against a few Irish folk...
Sayaka Kishi Trio: Life Is Too Great
Expressing an exuberance for life with an original jazz spirit, Life Is Too Great from the Sayaka Kishi Trio is...
Taihei Asakawa: Waltz for Debby
Although it may seem overly-ambitious to reinvent the classic 1961 Bill Evans Trio live recordings Waltz for Debby and Sunday...
Takayuki Yagi: New Departure
Pianist Takayuki Yagi’s 2018 release New Departure brings him together with stars of the New York jazz scene for a...
Strings
Strings jazz club, located near Kichijoji station in Tokyo, Japan
Hitomi Nishiyama Trio: I’m Missing You
Rewinding from the previous article on Hitomi Nishiyama’s Echo from 2024, and connecting the dots (re: Dot, 2023), relistening to...
Taihei Asakawa: Catastrophe in Jazz
Jazz pianist Taihei Asakawa pushes boundaries on his 2011 release Catastrophe in Jazz. This modern jazz piano trio album is...
Shunichi Yanagi Trio: Slope
Jazz pianist Shunichi Yanagi’s Slope is his second trio release, a 2015 followup to his 2012 debut Bubble Fish. The...
Otohito Fuse Trio: Thus Have I Heard
This I Have Heard is a 2025 release from pianist Otohito Fuse, a second album as a leader quick on...
Naoko Tanaka: Appreciation
Appreciation is pianist and composer Naoko Tanaka’s 2022 jazz release, her latest in a series of exciting new albums from...
Saki Ozawa: Cheers!
Cheers! is the happy-go-lucky title of pianist Saki Ozawa’s debut release from 2023. It’s a fitting greeting as an introduction...
Michiyo Matsushita Trio: Free
Free is the third album from the Michiyo Matsushita Trio. With the members active in their individual recording and playing...