The sound of Nagatake’s jazz trio is compelling and modern, with a youthful style that is dynamic, energetic, and fun. Running at about 71 minutes, all ten tracks were composed by Nagatake and are bursting with her creative force, one that builds on the adventurous leanings of jazz pianists like Carla Bley and Cecil Taylor. Skillful and quick, Nagatake’s fingers can go from quiet and patient loveliness to a key-jabbing with barely contained energy, always in control but often peeking over the edge in risky provocation. Live audiences and album listeners cannot help but be drawn into her magnetic presence.

Here is a quick run through of the album flow. It starts with three highlights: #1 “Introduction -Breathe Beneath the Sun-” is Nagatake starting up the engines alone with a solo piano riff, deep and low on the keys with a rhythmically addictive pull and sharp lines coming in from above. The trio format begins with #2 “Not Even Heaven Knows”, a fiery and percussive fastball. #3 “Lucky You!” is another uptempo roller coaster with thrilling drops and bends, a frenetic Horace Silver-ish fever dream. #4 “Just Like He Sings” is a brushed ballad with the grace and sweetness of an Ellington/Strayhorn tune. #5 “Clover 9” is a wild and fast blues transmogrification, another album highlight (lots of these).

Track #6 “Teoribata” is a slower song written for bassist Orihara to shine peacefully in a long-form fairy tale. #7 “Say No More” has a classic hardcore dark jazz vibe with Chick Corea-esque Latin/straight waltz-time mix, grippingly edge-of-seat at a dangerous speed. #8 “I’ll Send You Good Vibes” is the first quartet track, as veteran saxophonist Kosuke Mine joins for a soulful and warm gospel/rock groove with his great playing. #9 “Nekokai no Ballad” continues the bluesy quartet atmosphere, gritty and genuine, with Eiichi Hayashi on sax, another distinctive and renowned Japanese jazz player. Finally, #10 “Get Ready to Say Goodbye” is a melodically beautiful and moving outro song with the elements of a hit pop song tenderly refracted through a Brad Melhdau-ish jazz prism.

Liner Notes

(Translated from the original Japanese liner notes.)

Introduction

Before anything else, I would like to thank you very much for listening to this CD, Breathe Beneath the Sun. We’ve been fortunate to be able to able to release another trio recording in quick succession after the previous trio recording released in March 2021. I can’t express enough the appreciation I have for the label, Owl Wing Records, and Aratake-san. On this CD, all the songs are original compositions that I wrote over the past year, mainly, including two songs in the memory of people who have passed away.

When I am riding on the train and dazzling sunlight pours in from the train window and washes over me, I really feel alive. The sunlight permeates me just like soaking into French toast. Whether it’s morning, evening, or even if I’m still tipsy from the previous night, it’s always great. I realize how good it feels to be alive, and the motivation to do my best increases as I’m being treated with unconditional kindness.

I contemplated different album titles while thinking that it would be great for this CD to have that kind of presence of sunlight. I thought, Something like French toast or…, and so on. I tried to express my ramblings to a close female friend, a high-school classmate who returned from abroad, and she understood what I was trying to say perfectly. Ultimately, she gave me the wonderful title Breathe Beneath the Sun.

永武幹子
Mikiko Nagatake

Introducing the Musicians

In February 2020, this trio entered our third year together.

Ryoji Orihara, the trio’s senior member, supports the band on fretless bass. He’s active with his solo project “Invisible Furniture”, serves as a member and musical director of “Virtual Silence”, and plays with Lisa Ono’s band. He is a professional fretless bass player specialist.

After we finished recording this album, he went to perform in a concert in Taiwan with Lisa Ono’s band. This was at a time when coronavirus was spreading in Taiwan, and he was forced to stay quarantined in a hotel for two weeks. However, he wanted to keep working on this album even at that time. We made full of video conferencing and other specialized tools and finished the mixing (working on the sound balance of the recording)! I was so surprised at the modern technology that allowed us to do the mixing while being far apart, without any time lag.

After this album was recorded, our trio went on to perform at various locations. One thing I have to mention is Orihara-san’s lunch presentations. In the mornings, we would gather in the hotel lobby and be treated to his presentation of notable restaurants in the area, including their websites, business hours, distance, and travel time. There was a passion for food overflowing with hospitality. Kira-san is also passionate about food, and so all throughout the tour we would prepare for the evening concert by having delicious meals.

Drummer Sota Kira is active in a wide variety of musical acts, from Kei Akagi’s band and Junko Onishi’s band (that is to say, he started with jazz bands) to even STUTS’s band and others. Kira-san has been supportive of me ever since my student days. He also plays drums in “J.J.Soul”, another of our regular jazz trios. There, too, his incredibly energetic drumming always enriches the band’s sound and boosts the excitement of everyone present.

Recently Kira-san has been focusing his attention on the proper ways of body movement. Backstage, he has been sharing his techniques and instructing us on effective stretching methods. Even on the day of the recording, there was quite an odd scene when everyone was facing the same direction and doing stretches (ha ha).

At the live venue Nardis in Kashiwa, there was a three-day event where our trio was featured as the core band with special guests. At that performance, the masters Mine-san and Hayashi-san were each featured on a one-horn ballad. It was so intense that I absolutely wanted to capture that in some form, so I asked them to make a guest appearance on this recording.

Since my student days, I have often gone to hear tenor saxophonist Kosuke Mine play. I’ve listened to him with Mine-san’s Quartet, the Takeshi Shibuya Orchestra, and others. Recently I’ve been working consistently with him in live concerts as a duo, and as a trio with saxophonist Miyuki Moriya. I am always moved by his one-of-a-kind tone and phrasing, and his warm, charming personality.

As for alto saxophonist Eiichi Hayashi, it’s possible that I heard him on CD before seeing him play live. When I was a student, there were special listening sessions in the Waseda Danmo (Modern Jazz Research Group) study room between jam sessions. That’s where I heard CDs like the Eiichi Hayashi and Fumio Itabashi Duo, and Daidarabocchi with Shun Sakai. I was totally blown away. When I went to see him play live, I was even more amazed. I’m so grateful that I am able to play with Hayashi-san in duos and with Masayo Koketsu’s “Ataira no Ei-chan”.

This recording is a performance featuring these kinds of trio members and two special guests!

1.Introduction -Breathe Beneath the Sun-

In the same way that we can hear the chimes of nearby elementary schools, wouldn’t it be so interesting if we could hear the songs and sounds of foreign countries carried by the wind? I wrote this short motif with that kind of feeling in mind. I hope that the performance on this CD can also reach people in all kinds of countries and regions.

2.Not Even Heaven Knows

“God has six fingers on each hand and twelve fingers on both hands.”

“See, this is why the first perfect number is 6, time is divided into 12 parts, and the seasons also end with the 12th month.” This is what my private school principal taught me when I was in middle school.

I suddenly remembered this a few years ago and thought “I should write a song with a time signature that only God can count on his fingers!!” So I wrote a song titled “God Has 12 Fingers”.

Time passed, and the threat of the new coronavirus appeared in 2020. Conventional common sense changed in the blink of an eye, and the world was thrown into disorder. I couldn’t help but think that not even God could have predicted something like this. I wrote a 13-beat song with a theme that even Got could not count (but since 13 is an unlucky number, the improvisations are in a 7-beat meter. Lucky seven!).

3.Lucky You!

I wrote this song with Kira-san in mind. The image of Kira-san is happiness! Yet, around the time we first had met, no matter how many times we performed, drank, and hit it off together, the next time we met, it felt like we were meeting again for the first time. I tried to project a sense of that somewhat not-straightforward feeling into this song (ha ha). It feels as if 吉良(Kira)(-san) is taking on the meaning of “lucky” in the lingo of business buzzwords.

4.Just Like He Sings

I wrote this song inspired by Shinji Hashimoto, a guitarist I love who passed away in July 2020. One day, Shinji-san appeared in my dream. In the dream, Shinji-san was playing “Naima” by J. Coltrane, and his improvisational approach was melodious like a vocal jazz standard song. It made me realize the affinity between modal-style songs and vocal standard songs.

To be able to listen to Shinji-san’s guitar in my dreams was like a dream (well, it was a dream)!! That’s why I wrote this song. I would love it if Shinji-san would play this song in my dream someday.

5.Clover 9

The “deck of cards” series. The previous release Into the Forest included “Clover 2”, and this time it’s 9. There are currently eight songs in the “deck of cards” series. The goal is a complete 53!

6.Teoribata (手織り機, hand loom)

I wrote this song with Orihara-san in mind. The title is just a joke [/The title in Japanese is 手織り機, or hand loom, and Orihara is 織原, containing the same Kanji character 織/]. I spun the melody based on the image of Orihara-san’s sound. It’s really nice to play this kind of mellow song with such emotion, and I love Orihara-san’s simple style of singing.

7.Say No More

8.I’ll Send You Good Vibes

Sometimes I think that if I were close by, I could send some positive energy with just a single handshake. These days, when we live in a world where we can send messages immediately, it’s good to know that we can check on faraway friends’ safety when natural disasters and emergencies occur. On the other hand, it can feel stressful when there is just not enough time to reply.

It’s rare that the timing works out such that someone contacts you just at the right moment when you need encouragement. At time like those, I would love it if you suddenly remembered to play this song with a click as if it just came to mind, and to feel a sense of positivity. The strong emotions I felt when writing this song perfectly match Mine-san’s gentle yet powerful saxophone, and this makes it a song I cherish even more.

9.Nekokai no Ballad /(猫飼いのバラッド, Cat-keeping Ballad)/*

In the summer of 2021, there was a Mikiko Nagatake three-day event at Kashiwa Nardis. This is a song I wrote for that occasion while thinking of Eiichi Hayashi. I listened to Hayashi-san a lot in my student days. I wrote a melody for his kind of really cool Hayashi-san sound that stands out in all kinds of places, and the master was even more amazing than I expected!!

10.Get Ready to Say Goodbye

I wrote this song when I heard the news of the sudden passing of someone who always came to my shows with a smile. With the state of emergency and everything that began in 2020, it had felt as though time had stopped. But of course that wasn’t the case, and time passed moment by moment, and sometimes it was no longer possible to meet someone that you hadn’t seen in a while. Accepting a final farewell takes time, and I think it’s best to take it slowly and with a peaceful mind.

All Composed by Mikiko Nagatake

A Letter from Yoshiaki Masuo

Dear Mikiko Nagatake

I listened to the audio for your new recording. I apologize for the delay, later that the promised date. Although I was asked to write some liner notes, I decided to express my feelings in a letter to you after just listening to the music.

First, all the musicians beginning with you were fantastic. The songs are good and there’s lots of variety. I’m very impressed by how it sums up your current feelings and how it comes together as one story all the way through to the end. The music was inspiring, and there were many moments that touched my heart directly. I love that kind of music.

It’s been almost six years since we started performing together. But it’s true that, when I listened to this recording, I realized that I know nothing about you, despite our working so long together. We’ve been linked only through music during these six years, without even having a drink together after a concert (ha ha).

One reason that I don’t know much about you is because of your intuitive sense about music. Because you can pick up so much just from listening meant that there was not much need to talk about it. Of course, human interaction and communication is also important for many reasons, and I’m reflecting on that.

Six years ago, when I started to audition pianists for my new band, you happened to be the first person I called. By just hearing the music, you understood well without me having to say anything. You interpreted the songs with your own personal style a fresh sense and feeling. I remember how I instantly took to you, with your own free and delicate sensibilities, right from the start. I was planning to try out other people as well, but in the end it was just that one audition and it was over.

It may be quite impolite to put it this way, but when listening to this recording, I feel that I can truly understand your depth as a human being. Also, I’ve never thought too deeply about musicians being male or female before, but on this album I really get the sense of you as a women (with good meaning).

In the generation that I grew up in, there were almost no female jazz musicians, and in the midst of that male-dominated jazz world, I hadn’t really thought about female jazz musicians. Because of preconceived notions of women, there must have been very difficult situations, including sexual harassment, even unintentional in some cases.

However, when I listen to your music, I feel strongly that we have already transcended that era and progressed forward one or two steps. Long ago, back in my day, all the role model jazz musicians that we looked up to were men, and Americans. Now, there is a big difference in the way of thinking between that generation and environment that we grew up in, and those of the young people of today. It’s good that this young generation is free of those previous boundaries, and especially the women of this generation.

Men tend to use authority and power as a basis of comparison, but I think women may be resigned in those aspects from the start, or consider them to not be problems, perhaps. That’s why there is no unnecessary ego in the music. I think that purity is also good. In this sense, women are very cool and aware. I can say this confidently. A conclusion from this is that there is a great potential for the future development of music to be shaped by the sensibilities of female musicians.

For the future, the advancement of women is absolutely essential not just in music but also in the world. If the ones at the top are always power-hungry men, then, well, we are doomed.

Sorry, I went off on a tangent.

Anyway, thank you for the wonderful music. I want to keep listening to it more and more. Please continue to push forward.

June 12, 2020 MASUO

GUEST

track8
Kosuke Mine (tenor sax)

Born in Tokyo on February 6, 1944.

He began playing clarinet when he joined the brass band in middle school. He played clarinet in part-time bands when he was around 17 years old, when he also started to play alto sax. He first encountered jazz in his second year of high-school when he would listen to records at jazz kissas. In 1963, he joined a jazz band and started to play at jazz clubs. In 1969, he was noticed by pianist Masabumi Kikuchi and joined his band, where he remained until the band ended in 1973. He released his first leader album, Mine, in 1970. In that year, he ranked second in the magazine Swing Journal’s reader popularity poll in the alto saxophone category, right after Sadao Watanabe, and attracted attention as a new alto sax player. After Masabumi Kikuchi’s band ended in 1973, he moved to New York where he stayed for two years. During this period he also made brief trips to Japan to continue performing in concerts with Masabumi Kikuchi and to record his own albums. After playing with groups including Four Sound with Fumio Itabashi, Nobuyoshi Ino, Hiroshi Murakami, and Masahiko Togashi’s J.J.Spirits, he formed his group Mine Quartet in 1992 and released his long-awaited leader album Major to Minor in 1993, which won the grand prize for Japan Jazz in Swing Journal’s Jazz Disc Awards that year. Currently, in addition to playing with his own group, he participates in many sessions including with the Takeshi Shibuya Orchestra.

track9
Eiichi Hayashi (alto sax)

He became a professional musician at 17 years of age by training in big bands and R&B groups. In 1980, he joined the Yosuke Yamashita Trio as “Plus One”, and a concert recorded during their ‘83 European Tour was released as a live recording. In 1990, he formed his own band MAZURU and released an album under that name which was well received. To this day, he is active and widely recognized as one of Japan’s top alto players, and his inimitable sound is an essential part of groups including the Takeshi Shibuya Orchestra, Fumio Itabashi’s band, and Akihiro Ishiwatari’s Mull House. In 2012, he released GATOS Meeting’s self-titled album featuring his three-horn arrangements. In July 2015, in the culmination of his work as an arranger, he led the 13-piece Eiichi Hayashi MAZURU Hokkaido Orchestra where he was showered with applause from large crowds of free jazz fans who gathered all over Hokkaido. Among his numerous releases, his representative work includes de-ga-show, Monk’s Mood, Oto no Tsubu, MAZURU no Yume, Mori no Hito, Birds and Bees, and Tsuru.

Obi Notes

“The music was inspiring, and there were many moments that touched my heart directly. I love that kind of music.” Yoshiaki Masuo

Audio and Video

• “Not Even Heaven Knows” (track #2):

• “Lucky You!” (track #3) — live performance (2021):

• “Lucky You!” (track #3) — live performance (2021):

• “Just Like He Sings” (track #4) — live performance (2021):

• “Clover 9” (track #5):

• “Say No More” (track #7) — live performance (2021):

• Excerpt from track #1: “Introduction -Breathe Beneath the Sun-”

They fill the nine-track album with 58 minutes of beloved tunes from the standard jazz playbook and the ballad/swing/bop canon, mostly from the core 1950s and 60s jazz eras:

1. “When Sunny Gets Blue” (Fisher/Segal, 1956)
2. “Something Special” (Jim Hall, 1993)
3. “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” (Romberg/Hammerstein II, 1928)
4. “Full House” (Wes Montgomery, 1962) \* trio w/ drums
5. “Wilton’s Mood” (Wilton Gaynair, 1959) \* quartet w/ sax, drums
6. “Two for the Road” (Mancini/Bricusse, 1967)
7. “Emily” (Mandel/Mercer, 1964)
8. “Reflections” (Thelonious Monk, 1952)
9. “My One and Only Love” (Wood/Mellin, 1952) \* trio w/ sax

On three of the tracks (marked with * above), the duo expands to a trio or a quartet with saxophonist Kosuke Mine and drummer Yusuke Yaginuma joining in. On these trio/quartet tracks, the effect is a natural increase in energy and excitement with the inherent rhythmic energy brought in by the drums and the full body of an edgy but mellow saxophone tone.

The duo stays close to the original compositions in their play-through, honoring the essence of each song without altering too much. A lot of enjoyment is generated through the beautiful tones of each instrument and the genuine jazz feel each member brings to the tunes’ melodies and each player’s improvisations.

In general, there’s a happy, relaxed feel that runs through the tracks. Three songs are played as sentimental ballads (#1, 6, 9) or comfortably subdued moments and mid-tempo swinging sessions on the majority of the songs. The two tracks with sax, #5 “Wilton’s Mood” and the album closer #9 “My One and Only Love”, are played with energetic verve and romantic tenderness, respectively.

Audio and Video

• Yuji Ito playing “Isfahan”:

• Koichi Hirata Quartet playing “My One and Only Love”:

• Yuji Ito, Ryo Ogihara, and Ren Yamamoto playing “Take the Coltrane”:

• Koichi Hirata Quartet playing “Polka Dots and Moonbeams”:

• Koichi Hirata, Kota Kaihori, and Daisuke Ijichi playing “Joy Spring”:

• Koichi Hirata and Fumika Asari Quartet playing “Anthropology”:

• Excerpt from track #4: “Full House”

One of those personal heroes is saxophonist Kosuke Mine, who joins the group as a special guest and adds his engagingly vibrant tenor sax sound on five of the nine tracks. Those include two of the album’s peaks for excitement (the edge-of-your-seat #2 “Flip a Coin” and the funkily thrillseeking #5 “Maverick”) as well as Mine’s introspective ballad #7 “After the Checkout” where the two saxes converse over melancholy piano chords to set a dramatic scene.

Liner Notes

(Translated from Miyuki Moriya’s original Japanese liner notes.)

As always, thank you for picking up and listening to this album.

Although Beyond the Sea is my fourth album as a leader, it feels like a continuation of my first album Cat’s Cradle which I released in 2010. For this new recording, there are songs that I’ve been working on for years, new songs written for this album, and two songs by musicians whom I respect greatly. Since this is fully packed with nine songs (at over an hour!) I hope that you stick with me through to the end.

About the musicians, two have been with me for close to twenty years and played on my first album: pianist Mamoru Ishida and drummer Sohnosuke Imaizumi. Bassist Junichi Sato has been with this band since April 2021. Incidentally, being able to meet him was a trigger to making this album.

This time we were also joined by a special guest, the beloved saxophone player Kosuke Mine, who I have endless respect for both musically and as a human being.

When I was still a youngster in my early twenties (yes, there was such a time… haha) and a total beginner in jazz, I was looked after by the owner of a local jazz spot called Swing House in my hometown of Takamatsu. One day, a regular customer told me “Kosuke Mine is coming here, and you definitely should hear him!” So, when he came to perform as a touring member with guitarist Yoshiaki Masuo, that’s when I first met and heard Mine-san. (Mine-san probably doesn’t remember that time, but ever since then, he has been incredibly kind and wonderful to me!) I bought his /Major to Minor /album at the time, and it’s continuously been one of my favorites. To be honest, I only knew about bebop then, so it was a bit of a challenge at first. But every now and then, I would pull out the record, listen to it, and think “Wow, this is really, really cool!” And, the more I continued to play jazz, the more captivated I became by his sound and his playing. A few years later in Tokyo, I was able to meet Mine-san again, and I even stood on the same stage as him. The fact that the day finally came when I could play with him on my own leader album is truly like a dream come true. I feel very blessed.

I’ll briefly introduce the songs.

1. Cicada’s Blues (Miyuki Moriya)

This is a blues inspired by the life of a cicada. They say that some cicadas remain in the earth for seven years, but apparently, the type that lives in Japan only stays underground for four to five years at most. The fact that they only live for one week after emerging is based on observations under breeding conditions, and it seems that their actual lives and behavior are not well understood. It may be that their happiest times are sleeping deep in the earth while dreaming of the whole wide world.

2. Flip a Coin (Miyuki Moriya)

It means a coin toss. This song was written for this album, and the key is the slightly tricky bass line in the intro. I imagined the anticipation, the nervousness, and the thrill that can come at times when one is readying for victory or defeat, or taking a step into a new world while trying to suppress feelings of excitement.

3. 父母ヶ浜 (Miyuki Moriya)

There is a beach in my hometown in the Kagawa Prefecture where the sunsets are very beautiful. My grandmother’s house is nearby, so when I was young, I would go to swim in the sea there in the summer. It’s a wide, shallow beach, so at low tide, a large pool of water is formed and beautifully reflects the sky like a mirror. Recently, it’s become a very popular tourist spot, dubbed Japan’s Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni Salt Flats).

4. Melancholy Marie (Miyuki Moriya)

This is a song I wrote to celebrate the birthday of Mariko-san, the cute wife of Miyazaki-san who runs the jazz bar Cochi in Koiwa. It’s a fun and relaxing place that I visit almost every month. The ever-kind Mariko-san always worries about her husband, as he loves alcohol a lot and sometimes drinks too much. They are an incredibly wonderful couple.

5. Maverick (Miyuki Moriya)

It means a lone wolf, a rebel. The barmaster of the jazz bar Salt Peanuts in Ekoda has been taking care of our band for many years. This tough character has seen the Tom Cruise movie Top Gun: Maverick at the movie theater more than 50 times! We choose the title of this song in appreciation for him.

6. Beyond the Sea (Miyuki Moriya)

I love the blue seas of Japan’s southern islands. I wrote this song during the self-isolation period in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. At the time, I was hoping to break free as soon as possible and escape to a southern island. In fact, I wrote this with inspiration taken from the song “The Color of Peace” by the wonderful pianist Hajime Yoshizawa.

7. After the Checkout (Kosuke Mine)

This is a beautiful ballad written by Kosuke Mine. It so goes that he wrote this song in the studio right after checking out of an establishment for mountain seclusion, where he would sometimes go alone in order to practice and compose. No matter how many times I play this song, I’m deeply moved. It’s one of my personal favorites.

8. PAPA Julian (Miyuki Moriya)

This is a swing number inspired by “Cannonball”, aka saxophone player Julian Edwin Adderley. I wrote this about twenty years ago and since then many people have performed it. It’s a piece that I’m personally pleased with, and it has become a familiar song at this band’s live performances.

9. After Dark (Hidefumi Toki)

This is a ballad by my esteemed instructor Hidefumi Toki. The person I have become today, who is able to continue playing jazz from then to now, is the result of my meeting Toki-san. I still treasure the things he taught me and the courage he gave me. It was an honor to be one of his students. With gratitude.

This album has a completely different atmosphere compared to my earlier two albums. My album from two releases ago, Mukashi Mukashi, paid respect to the free jazz of 1970s Japan. My previous release Uta Oto was inspired by nature, the Earth, and distant foreign lands. I hope that listeners who have been with me since earlier albums will enjoy this change. At the same time, I hope that new audiences who may be hearing me for the first time through this album will also be inspired to explore the different sides of Miyuki Moriya that I’ve created so far.

At the beginning of these liner notes, I mentioned that this album feels like a continuation of my first album. While our situations and environments have changed over the years, I’m extremely happy to be able to put out this work together. These great, hardworking musicians who I’ve played with up to now and into the future still remind me of the fresh and energetic feelings that I had when I first started playing.

守谷美由貴 Miyuki Moriya

Obi Notes

The sky, the breeze, the blue. Sax player Miyuki Moriya welcomes veteran tenor player Kosuke Mine as a special guest on her summer album that is making a splash.

Audio and Video

• Audio for “Beyond the Sea”, track #6 on this album:

• Short excerpt of the Miyuki Moriya Quartet playing “Cat’s Cradle” from her first album, live in 2011:

• Miyuki Moriya and Kosuke Mine playing “You Don’t Know What Love Is” live at Tokyo’s Hot House in 2013:

• Audio for “Chichibugahama”, track #3 on this album

• Audio for “Maverick”, track #5 on this album

• Excerpt from track #2: “Flip a Coin”

Mine is a living legend who started young, releasing his first album in 1970 to immediate acclaim. He cut his jazz teeth with many well-known musicians, including Joe Henderson, Mal Waldron, Sadao Watanabe, Terumasa Hino… the list is long. For a period, he was a long-time member of the fusion jazz group Native Son, after which he returned to leading his own straight-ahead groups, touring, recording, and lighting up the jazz scene in Japan and abroad.

This album marks Mine’s return to releasing albums under his own name after participating in jazz in New York and Tokyo and his years with Native Sun. The tracks were performed with fellow Tokyo musicians at the popular Body And Soul club in 1993. The album is also noted as a transition from a fusion jazz focus to a more straight-ahead style, being likened to moving from a Wayne Shorter “Weather Report” approach to Sonny Rollins’s rhythmic bop style. In any case, Mine’s playing is top-notch and expressively original, with fluid horn flights that are stunning and exciting, soulful and jaunty.

The album’s six tracks are all originals played live, united with the raw energy of the audience. Mine’s originals are well-built frameworks, addictive grooves with enough space for the soloists to stretch and fly.

The solid swing jazz on “Major to Minor” kicks off with deep color and edge, continuing with the weighty bluesiness of “Morning After”, pulsing adrenalin of “Last Shot”, the deeply resonant ballad “Sasuke”, and the ballad-to-midtempo-walking chimera of deep jazz attitude. “Changa”, an original tune offered by bassist Tsutomu Okada, is another highlight of high-energy expression, a slow-building tidal wave of churning sound and risk-taking solos like high-wire acts over rumbling bass roots.

Throughout, the group hangs together tightly, flexible enough to decorate each other’s textures with responses and well-timed splashes of color, the rhythmic cohesion warranting as much attention as the expert improvisations.

This album received the 1993 Japan Jazz Disc Award.

Audio and Video

• Kohsuke Mine performing “Blue Plum” live:

• Kohsuke Mine performing “Seymour” live:

• Excerpt from track #1: “Major to Minor”