The charm of the NYC backdrop is not used simply for glamorous postcard photos, however: Pianist Kitajima and bassist Motoi Kanamori, both based in Japan, joined up with longtime New York resident Fukushi Tainaka on drums for the recording of this album in his adopted hometown. It seems that the energy and legacy of the big city inspired the players as they recorded the music for this album, raising them up as if standing on the shoulders of the past jazz giants that they love.

Kitajima shows off her style influences through tributes to the legendary jazz piano players who are some of her favorites. Through her attention and dedication, she focused here on Bobby Timmons (track #1 “Soul Snappy”), Sonny Clark’s (#4 “Sippin’ at Bells”), Bud Powell (#6 “Tempus Fugit”), and Error Garner (#8 “Erroll’s Dream”). These admirable goals are realized by the trio’s locked-in skills, effort, and dynamic energy as they run through the moods of soulful bop, jazz blues, smooth bossa nova jazz (#3 “Estate”), Afro-Cuban jazz (#9 “Manteca”) and swing, swing, swing.

Along with the six jazz standards and covers, Kitajima also introduces four of her original compositions on her debut. Along with her refined, reverential playing style, her creative songwriting also honors the essence of true jazz in the tradition of good-feeling, hard-swinging jazz piano trios.

Liner Notes

(Translated from Kanoko Kitajima’s original Japanese liner notes.)

This album was completed with the cooperation of many people. I want to dedicate this album to all my family and friends who always look after me, the listeners and club owners who support me, and my late grandfather who taught me about the joy of music.

On this, my first album, I am fortunate to be joined by the superb drummer Fukushi Tainaka, who has been continuously playing at the forefront of jazz in New York City for forty years. I’m so pleased to have made this album, which was recorded in a historic New York studio with such excellent musicians and audio engineers. I hope that you will enjoy this record, created with a whole-body swing feel, for a long time to come.

1. Soul Snappy / Kanoko Kitajima

This is an original song that I wrote with inspiration drawn from a pianist I admire a lot, Bobby Timmons. I put my sense of his powerful and beautiful playing into this song.

2. Long Way to Go / Kanoko Kitajima

Jazz is deep, and I often feel a whole life can be devoted to pursuing it. Listening to so many songs and getting the chance to perform with my respected mentors has been an amazing experience for me. I wrote this song with the determination to examine and devote myself daily to continue to work hard over the long run.

3. Estate / Bruno Martino

This song, whose title means “summer” in Italian, is magnificent and melancholic. I focused on trying to make the melody sing beautifully without losing the song’s atmosphere. Tainaka’s deep mallet playing and Kanamori’s sexy bass lines stand out, making this song great for hot summer days.

4. Sippin’ at Bells / Miles Davis

This is another one of my favorite songs, also included in the album Cool Struttin’ [Sonny Clark, 1958]. The title refers to drinking slowly at a bar called Bells. Check out Tainaka’s drum solo, full of emotion.

5. Sometimes I Feel / Kanoko Kitajima

Often, when the day’s over and I’m thinking about whatever happened that day, I get lost in thought. This song came to me during one of those times. We recorded it as a piano trio for this album, but I was thinking about using horn instrumentation when I wrote it, and I’d like to record it as a quartet someday.

6. Tempus Fugit / Bud Powell

Bud Powell left us with many spectacular songs and performances. Among those is this song, one filled with his new approach to melody and speed, and one that was a challenge for me. It’s a difficult song to play through the melody with many coordination spots for the three of us as we run towards the ending. Tainaka’s wonderful brushwork is really enjoyable.

7. If You Could See Me Now / Tadd Dameron

The prolific songwriter Tadd Dameron wrote this song for Sarah Vaughan, a vocalist he performed with a lot at the time. When I first heard this song I was deeply moved by its beauty, and I have treasured playing it ever since.

8. Erroll’s Dream / Kanoko Kitajima

Erroll Garner, famous as the composer of “Misty”, is one whose piano playing makes me happier the more I hear it. His music fills my heart when I close my eyes and listen to his tremendous lyricism and colorful touch. I tried to include that dreamlike sentiment into this song.

9. Manteca / Dizzy Gillespie

This song is very memorable for me. In 2013, I attended Junko Onishi’s jazz workshop at the Saito Kinen Matsumoto Festival, and the assigned piece was this song. I still remember her saying “Use the whole piano like an orchestra, from top to bottom, and play with your entire body.” It became a dynamic performance together with Kanamori’s firm beat and Tainaka’s incredibly cool groove.

10. Serenade in Blue / Harry Warren

Harry Warren gave us more than 800 impressive compositions, including “The More I See You” and “There Will Never Be Another You”. I learned about this composition when I was living in Fukuoka and was a member of Junya Hidaka’s AMG (Advanced Music Gallery) big band, and we played this beautiful song. I remember it being very romantic at the time, as we played it in an outdoor setting where the neon lights of Nakasu joined the night sky. I brought the album to a close with this favorite and memorable piece, “Serenade in Blue”.

北島佳乃子 Kitajima Kanoko

Obi Notes

A brilliant debut record from a pianist with a naturally sophisticated talent! You’re moved to smile with every note from all the songs… this is real jazz!

Audio and Video

• Audio for “Soul Snappy”, track #1 on this album:

• Live performance of “Estate”, track #3 on this album:

• Live performance of “Daahoud” with the Fumika Asari Quartet:

• Live performance of “Caravan” with the Natsuko Matsuyama Quartet:

• Excerpt from track #2: “Long way to go”

The first “trio” side features four jazz staples and one original from leader Kanamori. The four standards (“Autumn Leaves”, “Surrey with the Fringe on Top”, “I’ve Got a Crush On You”, and “Recordame”) are enhanced with slight rearrangements and additions but mainly stay true to the core of straight-ahead jazz piano trio versions. The original composition on this half, Kanamori’s “Mingus Stroll”, sounds just like it should, with a bluesy strolling feel that recalls the spirit of Charles Mingus.

Notable in several tracks are the slow to fast and double-time meter and time changes that work to keep the audience (and the band) on their toes while the players’ extended improvisations play on. Drummer Yamada also takes the spotlight on a few songs as he lets loose over vamps on the very rapid tempo “Surrey” and the exciting set-closer “Recordame”.

The second “trio with strings” set features three standards (“Smooth as the Wind”, “Lush Life”, and the encore “What a Wonderful World”), with three more originals from Kanamori. Here, when not doubling or embellishing the song melodies, the strings add a rich harmonic backdrop to the trio’s sound, especially and appropriately lush in the beautiful Billy Strayhorn tune.

Beyond the standard jazz repertoire, the seven-member group spreads its wings further on Kanamori’s originals on side two. The trio with strings paints with more abstract colors for his songs “Invisible World” and “Star’s Duty” in particular, for an atmospheric and storytelling effect. His third original on this side, “Sea & Ocean”, is all Latin rhythms, mid- and uptempo, used dynamically to add new dimensions of energy and flair to the entire concert.

Liner Notes

(Translated from Motoi Kanamori’s original Japanese liner notes.)

This is my third album as a leader. It was recorded on December 29, 2022, at a concert held at Tokyo FM Hall. I’m so happy that I was able to have this musical experience and be blessed with such wonderful musicians. I hope that you can listen to this for a long time.

Disc 1

1. Autumn Leaves

Originally a chanson, this is a world-famous standard that has been recorded countless times. Not only Frank Sinatra, but Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, and many other jazz musicians have recorded great versions of this song, and it is widely recognized as a jazz standard. Although we must follow in the footsteps of such famous takes, playing our new interpretation of Kareha (枯葉, Autumn Leaves) in the modern day may have resulted in something that has not been heard before. Enjoy the thrilling exchanges between the trio with the dizzying changes of scene.

2. Mingus Stroll

This is my original song dedicated to the great jazz bassist Charles Mingus. Charles Mingus’s music contains nostalgic, romantic melodies that sometimes surge up with the passion of raging waves. At the time, it gave music new inspiration with free ideas and construction, and it still has that new quality today. The year 2022 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charles Mingus, and we performed this song to commemorate the birth of a man who influenced many artists regardless of genre.

3. Surrey with the Fringe on Top

This jazz standard was originally written for a musical, and we started playing it as a homage to our beloved Ahmad Jamal. Typical of this trio, the tempo is extremely fast, like wheels spitting fire. We use an arrangement with a tempo change in the middle, just as the wheels are shaking wildly and coming off, making for an exciting song. Unfazed by this tempo, Takubo’s piano and Yamada’s brushwork are the very essence of breathtaking.

4. I’ve Got a Crush on You

This romantic number (meaning “I’m crazy about you”) is a masterpiece from the genius composer George Gershwin, who worked not only in jazz but also in classical music. It’s an exquisite ballad with a beautiful verse, the introductory part that precedes the main part of a jazz vocal song. Check out Takubo’s beautiful touch and melodic soul, and most of all, the romantic and melancholic harmony of the trio performance.

5. Recordame

This song by Joe Henderson is widely known as a jazz standard and is so cool when played just as written. In fact, this song was requested by a jazz student who is currently enrolled in my former school. This student was coming to my concert, so I asked them if there was a song they wanted to hear. It was a good opportunity for me to arrange a version of this song suited for this trio. I hope you get a real kick out of Yamada’s hidden reserves in the final drum solo, where he navigates complex riffs through to the end with ease.

Disc 2

1. Smooth as the Wind

This song is a hidden gem said to have been written for the trumpeter Blue Mitchell by the great jazz pianist, composer, and arranger Tadd Dameron. At the time, Dameron was imprisoned for drug addiction and was far removed from the jazz stage (drug use is a theme related to why the jazz genre unfortunately rarely appears in elementary school textbooks). However, Blue Mitchell relied on Tadd Dameron as an arranger who brought out the best in him, so Dameron wrote this song was written for him while incarcerated. His record was completed with this song as the title tune, and it became a beloved work of accomplishment throughout his life. The result is a breezy, melodic song that flows like the wind with the addition of the string quartet.

2. Lush Life

They say that this song was written by Duke Ellington’s renowned right-hand man Billy Strayhorn when he was about 19 years old. Although the title given in Japanese may be “The Life of a Drunkard”, it’s really an excellent song. This song has long been played by this trio as a feature for Takubo (who doesn’t drink alcohol, incidentally). It was also included in our second album. I hope that the sweet sound of strings gives a fresh view of another side of this famous song.

3. Invisible World

This was the title tune for our second album, Invisible World, released in 2020. Just as the album was released, the world came to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. We couldn’t go or perform anywhere, and the way forward looked pitch black. We were plunging forth into what seemed to be an “invisible world”. This song originated from the story of how music can find a small light in the darkness and allow an escape from the gloom. At the end of 2022, it’s with deeply felt emotion that we were able to play this song once again, and to say goodbye to the pandemic.

4. Star’s Duty

This is a song I wrote with the theme of “Working people all looking radiant.” The story is of a star who wakes up and reluctantly heads to work, but once they start working, they shine brilliantly. The combination of strings and the piano solo expresses the feelings of the star who does not want to go to work. The end of the song illustrates the star beginning to work and shining brightly. It’s a song to listen to when you are tired of the daily routine.

5. Sea & Ocean

The words “sea” and “ocean” both have the same meaning in Japanese as the word umi (海). This is an original song I wrote with a related theme: “The same thing can appear different as the way of looking at it changes.” Watching the words and behavior of lots of people during the coronavirus pandemic made me feel and think about many things. Depending on the viewpoint, good things can look bad, and bad things can look good. In this song, the same melody appears several times in different forms. Jazz music often has the characteristic of using the same chord progressions and developing on those. For this song, I composed using a new concept of developing the music by continuously changing the scene. I hope that you like it.

6. What a Wonderful World

It goes without saying that this is a famous song loved not only by jazz fans but by many people throughout the world. We performed this song as an encore for the live concert. I could only think of this song in light of the current situation, not only regarding the coronavirus, but with war, discrimination, and world instability in our modern times. As one who can only express themselves through music, I played this song with hope for a peaceful and beautiful world from now on. I think that the sound and minds of the group came together as one to deliver the best performance. Please enjoy it.

Obi Notes

A combination of daringly dashing piano trio and magnificently sweet strings.

A stunning 2-disc album that captures the stirring concert recorded live in high quality at Tokyo FM Hall!!

Audio and Video

• The Motoi Kanamori Trio playing “Lady Luck” live in 2021:

• The Motoi Kanamori Trio playing “No Fool No Fun” live in 2018:

• The Motoi Kanamori Trio playing “Aru Ame no Hi ni…” live in 2018:

• Excerpt from track #1: “Autumn Leaves”

No doubt Nakamura’s vision extends through the material, from the steampunk-ish cover to the song titles that describe a fantastical, searching aesthetic. And, of course, this influence carries through to the music, artfully composed with originality and serving as a beautiful post-bop platform for each musician’s improvisation.

Although this is a trumpet leader’s album, Nakamura has always been generous, and each musician gets plenty of space to shine. There are plenty of blistering sax solos, aggressively gripping piano, and nimble and heavy bass and drum rhythms (plus, both bassist Kanamori and drummer Takemura not only lock in the solid foundation but also take solos as well.)

The songwriting does have a Humadope flavor throughout. On modern jazz frames that would fit a Jazz Messengers model, there are twin harmony lines played out by trumpet and sax in daredevil curves and with just dissonance for a spicy edge. Time signatures and rhythmic hooks are catchy, with a cleverly unpredictable quality to throw off the stability of typical musical patterns. Bass hooks and staggered melodies launch and segment in creative places. Another Humadope trademark is the occasional short musical machine-gun style break riff used to ramp up excitement and grab attention through repeated short phrases or a series of single notes between sections of a song.

The whole album is filled with great moments, and picking favorites depends on the day. Current highlights include:

• “Space Boy”, hinting at the innovative combos of Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Wynton Marsalis.
• The unignorable funky swing on “So Nice!!”, with its rhythmic space and gaps that imbue a catchy groove with playful surprise.
• “North Kingdom” and its interfacing stairstep structures and magical qualities masquerading as a ballad.
• “Genseirin”, the tumbling syncopated masterpiece with a free jazz section and coordinated outro section. This track in particular song contains the most creatively arranged music on the album, a magnificent compositional form and sound reminiscent of the great Wayne Shorter’s ideas.
• “Sense of Mission”, with its tense speed and rhythm hooks, staccato chops, and searing solos.

Audio and Video

• Promotional video of “So Nice!”, track #3 on this album:

• Live versions of “Space Boy”, “Sense of Mission”, and “So Nice!” from 2019:

• Excerpt from track #7: “Sense Of Mission”

The full group listed on the record, “Seiji Harakawa Quartet featuring Fukushi Tainaka” also emphasizes the importance of drums and groove on this album, and honors Harakawa’s experience playing living legend drummer Tainaka in New York for half a decade before Harakawa returned to Japan.

This 9-track album runs for 52 minutes and includes a selection of jazz covers and three of the leader’s original songs. Most of the songs are taken at a good-feeling mid-tempo 4/4 groove that doesn’t drag or get old in the least. The quartet’s playing is naturally top-notch, with familiar jazz patterns and quotes thrown in from time to time, lending authenticity to the players’ sense of togetherness and shared jazz language.

A few ballads and Latin songs are included for variety: the standard “Cherokee”, a song often played at breakneck speed as a sort of thrill-ride woodshedding contest, is here surprisingly played at a slow and pleasant pace, and fast-tempo responsibilities are taken up by the quartet’s high-speed, exciting playing on the American baseball anthem “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”.

The sound of the quartet is very much focused on locked-in swing and hard bop drive, taking after the positive energy and strong rhythms that groups like Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers were creating in the 1950s. It may not be a coincidence that Harakawa was also a member of a local Japanese jazz combo called the Japanese Jazz Messengers, and he released three albums with that group in recent years leading up to this debut release.

Harakawa’s alto sax sound is strong, fluid, and engaging, very well suited for the spotlight on his debut album. Harakawa’s sax can recall bop giants like Sonny Stitt with his technically agile sound and effortless playing steeped in bebop and blues. This is quite apparent on the final track, Harakawa’s “Give Me More Hot Sauce”, which is a perfect album closer with its laid-back bluesy groove and the silky smooth leads that Harakawa sings through his sax.

I’ve seen Harakawa’s group play through the years and have always been impressed by the group preparation, skill, and consistency of their performances. From song selection, arrangements, and solid groove, the music is always fulfilling and leaves a lasting impression.

One of the best things I can say about the music on Skipping Down the Street is that the live performance feeling is captured so well on this recording. A gem that honors Harakawa’s exceptional effort and abilities, this release is full of reliable and pure jazz that doesn’t disappoint, drawing on the skill and love that these musicians have for good honest music.

Audio and Video

• Live Performance of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” by the Seiji Harakawa Quartet:

• Excerpt from track #5: “I’ve Never Been In Love Before”

The opening notes of Slope establish a delicate frame that quickly moves into a modern rock-styled beat, showcasing how this trio tends to move between jazz pop, rock, and light-as-a-bubble tenderness. Leading the trio as the primary composer, Yanagi orchestrates a progressive style, and his own playing is decorated with repeated arpeggios and densely looped patterns packed together like a woven carpet.

Some tunes like the grunge of the opener “I Can’t Fly” and the sad ballad “Song of Do” are solidly modern, reminiscent of the great jazz trio EST. Other catchy songs like “Yudachi” and “Y’s Swing” feature graceful bossa rhythms and weightless swing patterns with a comfortable ambience, and the ballads “Silence and You” and the solo piano track “B.E.” paint serene and spacious musical landscapes. The final two tracks on the album are highlights as well: the wild spirals and chaotic webs of “Ame to Muchi” and the majestic “Nagai Yumei” both leave a strong impression as the album reaches the end.

Audio and Video

• The Shunichi Yanagi Trio playing “Days and Nights Waiting”:

• The Shunichi Yanagi Trio playing “Sail Off”:

• Excerpt from track #1: “I can’t fly”

Kanamori, a steady and constant sideman for jazz musicians both inside and outside Japan, built his skill and connections by playing nightly at local clubs around Tokyo in a wide variety of situations. Besides being a first-call bassist for local musicians, he also joins international tours with artists such as Eric Alexander, Vincent Herring, and others. With everlasting good humor and grinning stories, his positivity infuses his expert playing, propelling groups solidly with his deep and melodic bass notes.

The well-arranged album flows with vim and vigor, music devoted to satisfying listener as well as performer with a fine balance of five originals and three covers: Rogers & Hart’s “Little Girl Blue”, Tizol & Ellington’s “Caravan”, and Jobim’s “Luiza”. Kanamori’s originals also swing and surge on numbers like the opener “No Fool No Fun”, the thrillingly dramatic “幕開け (Open Curtains!)” and the manic “Metro Maniac”, which features a quintet with the addition of an alto sax and tenor sax front line. Wrapping things up softly with the album closer “Luiza”, Kanamori takes the spotlight in piano-bass duo format, where he adorns the melody with bowed strings in a liltingly romantic performance.

Audio and Video

• Promotional video for this album:

• Excerpt from track #7: “Metro Maniac”

On Bubble Fish, the jazz trio uses full chords and vital grooves on their compositions, bubbling with rock and pop styles infused with jazz improvisation. Yanagi’s angular patterns run up and down the piano keys with an almost electric guitar mindset. Yet, the pianist also shows a light tenderness where soft melodies rise lightly to the surface with positive energy, particularly on album highlights such as the “Shibuya Crossing” and “Prayer”, which closes the album with calming peace.

Audio and Video

• Promotional video for this album:

• Excerpt from track #7: “渋谷の交差点 (Shibuya Crossing)”

This album consists of well-written original compositions with a few covers thrown in (Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones). Overall, this is an excellent debut with a variety of moods, tempos, and exciting solos showcasing some premium J Jazz from the current crop of musicians.

Audio and Video

• Live performance of track #4 “Round Table”:

• Excerpt from track #1: “SPEED HARASSMENT”