Akiko Suda: Flowers On The Hill
Akiko Suda: Flowers On The Hill
Jazz of Japan #10 • Feb 1, 2018 • Brian McCrory
Flowers On The Hill is a beautiful album of tender and impeccably delivered music from the vocalist Akiko Suda. The album features lovely original compositions together with jazz, bossa nova, and pop standards performed artistically with creative arrangements.
The talented musicians play sensitively and at times sound like a Brad Mehldau-inspired modern jazz piano trio, creating a lush background for Suda’s masterful voice.
The album starts strongly with four catchy and elaborate originals penned by Suda and pianist Yuichi Narita, then moves into jazz and pop territory. Novel versions of “Waters of March”, “Doralice”, Chick Corea’s “Crystal Silence”, and the jazz standards “How About You” and “What a Wonderful World” fill out the middle of the tracklist. The album closes sweetly with two pop songs, Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird” and Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today”, a pairing perfectly matched with the band’s modern, affectionate mood.
Flowers On The Hill by Akiko Suda
- Akiko Suda - vocal
- Yuichi Narita - piano, accordion, chorus
- Koji Yasuda - bass
- Yu Kudo - drums, percussion
- Nao Teraya - guitar
- Toyomi Kobayashi - flute, andes
Released in 2016 on Diw The Grace as DW-1008.
Japanese names: Akiko Suda 須田晶子 Yuichi Narita 成田祐一 Koji Yasuda 安田幸司 Yu Kudo 工藤悠 Nao Teraya 寺屋ナオ Toyomi Kobayashi 小林豊美
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