Although this is a slightly older album, Hirota announced recently that this album and her earlier release Flea Circus (2015) were now available on streaming platforms, making this a good time to refresh this short article about the album.

Magical Moonlight is a full release on the shorter side, a quick play-through of eight songs that runs for about 36 minutes. It’s an easy-going affair, a stroll through good old-fashioned sounding jazz. The nostalgia is enhanced by the group’s format, a quartet made up of Hirota on piano, Daisei Mii on violin and viola, Yusuke “Kilin” Sato on bass, and Gen Date on conga/percussion. A fifth musician, guitarist Yuichiro Hiraoka, joins as a special guest on three tracks, adding more close-up tangibility to the group’s grounded sweetness.

The eight songs are arranged by pianist Hirota, and three were composed by her. Overall the songs have a pleasantly throwback feel. Track #1 “Pepe le moko” is a languid start with a Parisian atmosphere that leads to a cute waltz with #2 “Furuhon-ya no Waltz”. #3 “C’est si bon” is that well-known French chanson, and #4 “Doggy Rhumba” is an uptempo rhumba version of Chopin’s “Minute Waltz” (aka “Waltz of the Puppy”).

For track #5, the Japanese min’yō folk song “Tanko Bushi” gets the “Ahmad Jamal ‘Poinciana’” treatment. The old classic #6 “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall” is simply cheerful. #7, Hirota’s “Ron Zaca Party” is played like a festive party arising from the wordplay of “Ron Zacapa”, a premium Guatamalan rum. Finally, the last track #8 “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” is a sentimental stride piano with a dusty saloon vibe, smoky, sultry, and comfortable.

Liner Notes

(Translated from Yuri Hirota’s original Japanese liner notes.)

Notes on a moonlit walk.

1.Pépé le Moko - Yuri Hirota

A port city in a distant foreign country. A soft serenade can be heard from an alleyway bar. You have a nostalgic scent of Paris about you. I wish we could walk together a little longer. A song from Jean Gabin’s Pépé le Moko, a French classic film that I saw.

2.Furuhon no Waltz (Waltz of the Secondhand Bookstore) - Yuri Hirota

We re-recorded songs from the “Kurofune Lady and the Ginsei Orchestra” [黒船レディと銀星楽団, /a swing-pop-retro band that Yuri Hirota was a member of/] period as instrumentals.

“That book is still half-read
Left behind, sometime, forgotten on a train
Time flows on
The days of my youth are distant and hazy”
— lyrics Fumi Mizubayashi (Kurofune Lady) from Furuhon-ya no Waltz

3.C’est si bon - Henri Betti

It’s soooo wonderful. It’s chanson.

4.Koinu no Rhumba (Doggy Rhumba) - Frédéric Chopin

I throw a ball and they run at full speed to go snatch it. I love the sound of their nails as they grab at the floor. Of course, the original song is a waltz.

5.Tanko Bushi (Coal-miner’s Song) - Japanese Traditional

An homage to Ahmad Jamal, a pianist I love. It seems as if exotic music and Japanese folk songs are compatible.

6.Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall - Doris Fisher

A great song by The Ink Spots, a chorus group active in the 1930s. As long as we live, there are sure to be some rainy days. It’s just a spring rain… So why not get wet?

7.Ron Zaka Party - Yuri Hirota

Dedicated to the great rum from Guatamala. Drink it, and it’ll make you want to stomp your feet in high spirits.

8.Can’t Take My Eyes off of You — Bob Crewe & Bob Gaudio

A killer tune from the 1980s disco era done with a vaudeville arrangement. Don’t skip the shocking finale!

Audio and Video

• Audio for “ぺぺ・ル・モコ”, track #1 on this album:

• Audio for “古本屋のワルツ”, track #2 on this album:

• Full playlist (YouTube)

• Full playlist (Spotify)

• Excerpt from track #5: “炭坑節(Tanko Bushi)”