The result is a boundary-pushing and vividly realized album centered around a six-part suite from Nishiyama, brought to life through electric guitar and acoustic piano. The two voices juggle dynamic changes and odd meters, novel structures, and riff-based comping rhythms that push the duo around edges as they race swiftly along paths in the fluid and melodic compositions. The musical story told in the suite seems to be filled with elements of fantasy, classical flourishes, and the energy of jazz fusion.

This is an album originating from two musicians who have a fondness for guitar-based bands like Dream Theater and Yngwie Malmsteen. The idea of the concept album that was popular in the 80s and 90s with groups like these, including Queensrÿche, Iron Maiden, and others, must too be a factor in the creation of this suite.

Nishiyama spent over a year composing Astrolabe and she wrote, edited, adapted, and performed the songs at intervals with Baba. Through it all, she maintained the goal of joining the separate songs in the suite’s tapestry of interweaving themes and patterns to tell a story where the plot moves through changes in tempos, meters, harmonies, and emotional moods.

Released in 2012, Astrolabe roughly falls in Nishiyama’s early-to-middle period between her first debut release I’m Missing You from 2004 and her current latest Songs from 2025. Up to 2012, she had already released several jazz piano trio albums as a leader of the Hitomi Nishiyama Trio and her Hitomi Nishiyama “Parallax” jazz piano trio. Her personal style has always blended smooth European modernism, classical pianist roots, and deep jazz studies. Add to that her equally recognizable compositional style that is filled with sublime melodies and beautifully intricate harmonies and rhythms.

The first six tracks on this album make up the “Astrolabe Suite”. In the liner notes (translated below), Nishiyama explains how the idea of writing a suite came to her, and the storytelling-like process she took with guitarist Baba in developing the chapters of the story over time.

No notes are provided about what the story’s concept is concretely, or if there is a fleshed-out plot with characters, scenes, and story arc, but listeners’ imaginations can be driven by what is gleaned from the song titles and how the music unfolds.

Track #1 “Aviator” flows at an uptempo pace with odd-meter measures and ornate syncopation decorating the piece. With some complex pieces, focusing too hard about what’s going on musically can interfere with the enjoyment of listening listening, such as when trying to identify and categorize the structural parts and how they connect like puzzle pieces. Yet “Aviator”’s opening flows along, rapidly and easily carrying listeners forward through beautiful melodies and mature, symphonic songwriting and playing.

The second movement is titled “Island”. This is a mid-tempo piece with the personality of a sentimental heavy rock ballad. A mysterious feeling arises from the shifting harmonies and close melodies, maintaining the sense of flying that was created on the previous track. The destination hinted at in the story (one possibly interpretation) moves from the perspective of the aviator to some remote island their aircraft landed upon. It seems that the melody and solos are also buffeted smoothly by the waves and glide over the terrain of the island like wind.

The next chapter, #3 “Voices in the Wind”, returns to a faster rhythm based pattern, where Nishiyama’s left hand pins down the rhythms like the chugging of a guitar riff. Still, harmonic grace bloom with refined filigrees of notes as classical, jazz, and rock root meld and the two musicians play with abandon. This part of the story increases the mystery with pulse-racing developments in plot as an unexpected phenomenon appears.

The suite’s fourth movement is “Underwater”. Strict time-keeping starts to dissolve and makes room for the duo’s rubato and flexible synchronicity. The guitar and piano both lead and follow indistinguishably as they stretch out for an interlude-like reflection in the peace and safety of aquatic submersion.

#5 “Dancer” frames an angular up-and-down march of folk-style joy as the music transforms into dreamy classical arpeggios with a touch of Ghilbi-esque fantasy. The elaborate spell of the dance provides a solution to the mystery or dilemma, but one that must be executed perfectly and step-wise like a dance, with all notes correct in place and in order.

The last movement, “Frontier”, shifts between free and solid time with several inner developments in meter and structure. Precise angles and curves are taken by the piano and guitar together, then piano alone in a solo break, then back together as the five-beat meter and rock-heavy rhythms build to a climax for the story’s satisfying conclusion.

Two more songs follow the six-part suite. #7 “Something I Can Do for You” is a lovely ballad that seems to relate indirectly some themes developed in the suite like memories of a dream. The last track, #8 “Still Moving…” revisits the oceanic tides implied in parts of the suite through a steady pulse and a double-note question of a melodic theme, alternatively comfortable and potentially threatening in its immense embrace.

Liner Notes

(Translated from Hitomi Nishiyama’s original Japanese liner notes.)

I want to make a suite. This was something I had been thinking about ever since I wrote the song “Invisible World”, included on my 2008 album Parallax.

There was a time when I was in high school that I was addicted to guitar-based music like Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, and Dream Theater. It was just undeniably cool. There was a perfectly constructed beauty that was filled with respect for its roots in classical music and rock music, and I was fascinated by the large-scale compositions and the playing.

As fate would have it, now I’m playing jazz. With jazz music, both the piano and the guitar are chordal instruments, so it’s nice to have either one in a band.

I met guitarist Takayoshi Baba one time at a jam session during my student days, but we didn’t meet again after that, despite the fact that we both often performed in the Kansai region. However, on the very same day as the final round selection of the 2005 Yokohama Jazz Promenade Competition, there was a Gibson Jazz Guitar Contest finals competition. I later heard from many people in Kansai that he also won the grand prize, and what’s more, we ended up playing the same selection of standards at our respective competitions! Just as I was wondering about what kind of player he had become, he showed up at one of my live shows to listen to my performance for some reason.

It was then that we talked about doing something together, and so I wrote the first song “Changing” (included on Parallax). We initially performed this as a duo. Since one aspect of Parallax itself contained the image of a pop guitar trio, we later invited Baba Takayoshi to join as a guest for Parallax concerts. I wrote “Invisible World” for our first performance together. That was when I started to feel that I wanted to write more music in this direction.

At that time, however, drummer Takehiro Shimizu was going to be moving to the United States, so the Parallax trio would be on hiatus following that. That was the beginning of this duo suite project.

This suite consists of six movements. Each movement took considerable time to compose, and the entire suite took one year and three months to complete. I rewrote it and unraveled it many times, but it was a very fun process. It was like I was writing a story about a place, thinking about where to head for the next adventure, while talking to Takayoshi Baba about this and that and searching for a way to perform what I’ve written. One thing we had in common was we had both been listening to the same guitar music at around the same time, so it was easy to share the same vision. Additionally, as a jazz player he’s extremely quick-witted. Of course, I was making a lot of parts for ad-libs all over, so while I included the elements of improvisation, there was also the enjoyment of “creating something”.

After completing the story, naturally I wanted to make it a book. Like a bookbinding process at the end, this album represents the final packaging of this recording.

During that one year and three months, at our live shows we were presenting in order the work that had just been completed. The listeners who came to those events were also witnessing the creation of this story in the same way. We thought to ourselves, wouldn’t it also be great to have listeners present in the final recording process as well? During a short one week period, we recruited supporters at our performances and invited them to observe at the recording studio.

For this album, the suite is concluded in six movements. Personally, I feel that the story is not over yet, and I have a sense that the time will come for a sequel someday.

The act of making music is nothing more than growing and traveling together with companions, with all the worries, struggles, discoveries, and joy encountered along the way. Along the journey, you can also make new friends as well.

As long as I am making music, the journey continues.

Much appreciation and thanks go out to everyone involved in the production of this album.

西山瞳 Hitomi Nishiyama

Obi Notes

A collection of songs crafted with overwhelming compositional sense.
A sublime duo of guitar and piano create and expand a magical sound space of two interweaving instruments!

Audio and Video

• Promotional video for this album:

• Excerpt from track #6: “Frontier”

This debut album from NHORHM was released in 2015 and rereleased/remastered in 2024 when the first run was sold out, and both new listeners and fans who originally missed out were clamoring for copies. The album contains ten tracks, nine cover songs and one original by pianist Nishiyama. All arrangements are by Nishiyama, and this is not something to take lightly; the whole project hinges on the idea of a jazz piano trio covering heavy metal tunes, and the success of the endeavor relies a lot on bridging the gap between those distinct sounds, styles, and instrumentation, and on making the music appealing, listenable, and great, despite the obvious novelty aspect that may precede the experience. Yet, never fear, Nishiyama took the challenge seriously and put a lot of work into this project.

Although both jazz fans and metal fans may look on this type of crossover hybrid with understandable suspicion (both audiences appreciate musical purity and authenticity, or genuineness, in their respective forms), it’s a homerun from the trio, as the reinterpreted songs exist in a new dimension or sub-genre.

Based on just the sound of the music, and the piano-bass-drums trio sound that is common in modern jazz, NHORHM certainly has more of a jazz sound than a metal one. There are no distorted guitars, no double-bass kick drums, no ear-splitting cymbal crashes or hyperspeed electric solos.

But the material on New Heritage of Real Heavy Metal is all drawn from the heavy metal canon. The trio plays Nishiyama’s modified versions (reharmonized, restructured, re-instrumented) of original songs by the bands U.K., Pantera, Rainbow, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Angra, Babymetal, Deep Purple, and Mr. Big.

Being jazz, the solos are also improvised in the jazz style, not run-throughs of the original works. These songs are not covers in the sense that they aim to replicate or reproduce the original songs, structures, and guitar solos present in the original recordings.

Nishiyama also includes one of her own compositions, “The Halfway to Babylon”, setting up a story that will be continued on the follow-up II and III albums.

While all ten of the songs feature the trio, three of the ten also feature guest musicians. Vocalist Tomomi Oda sings on #4 “Skin O’ My Teeth (Megadeth)”, guitarist Takayoshi Baba plays on #5 “Fear of the Dark (Iron Maiden)”, and trumpeter Hikari Ichihara plays on #8 “Demon’s Eye (Deep Purple)”.

The translated liner notes (further below) go into the song selections, so here is just a brief overview of the flow of the album.

Track #1, “In the Dead of Night” (from the band U.K.’s 1978 debut album) is progressive uptempo, getting slightly aggressive with power(-ish) chords, dynamic drums, and silky fretless electric bass dexterously covering the heavy metal guitar duties.

Track #2 “Walk” (Pantera, Vulgar Display of Power, 1992) is medium-heavy and dark, with powerful riffs, deadly serious drumming, and an attitude and sound close to the original song.

Track #3 “Man on the Silver Mountain” (Rainbow, Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow, 1975, with Ronnie James Dio on vocals) is a highlight of odd-meter, fantasy escapist metal, a more significant reinterpretation of the original hard rock beat.

Track #4 “Skin O’ My Teeth” (Megadeth, Countdown to Extinction, 1992) is another highlight for its close-to-the-bone edge and faithfulness to the original song, even with vocalist Tomomi Oda covering Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine role. It’s fun, uptempo 4/4 with some extra twists and reharmonizations, and, like the original, a relatively short song. The source Megadeth version also features a guitar solo from Marty Friedman, who contributed a blurb for this album along with some other famous metalers. This track may be the cleanest onramp for diehard metalheads, with the song’s catchy rhythms and riffs present in NHORHM’s version, not to mention the female vocals that are a perfect fit.

Track #5 “Fear of the Dark” (Iron Maiden, Fear of the Dark, 1992) is reformed as a slow-to-medium 4/4 ballad, starting softly with piano and acoustic guitar, then getting into a rock beat and changing meters for emotional impact. There’s an anthemic (Iron Maiden music perfect for this) yet meditative feel, and this song fills the important role of the sole ballad on an otherwise in-your-face heavy metal jazz album.

Track #6 “Upper Levels” (Angra, Secret Garden, 2014) is exciting, full of irregular signatures and complex moving lines and quick changes. It’s virtuosic, fulfilling the role that this song was chosen for. Their prog metal sounds are melodic with intricate licks, patterns, and different sections linked together. It summons the sounds of bands like Fates Warning, Dream Theater, and Queensrÿche, groups that blend classical, power, and progressive influences. This must be attractive for Nishiyama, who is often said to incorporate these styles and European music into her compositions and playing style.

Track #7 “Akumu no Rinbukyoku” [悪夢の輪舞曲, Rhondo of Nightmare] (Babymetal’s debut album, 2014) is quieter, lighter, and delicate, while still being a whirlpool of jazzy depth. The interesting band Babymetal invented the Japanese subgenre of “kawaii metal” (cute metal) by combining the sounds, power, and technique of heavy metal with the image of J-Pop vocals, theatrics, and culture. This medium 3/4 tune stands out as a highlight of the more straightforwardly modern jazz piano trio sounds on this album, and fits very well with Nishiyama’s personal style.

Track #8 “Demon’s Eye” (Deep Purple’s Fireball, 1971) is a bluesy and swingy hard-rock shuffle, and another song leaning towards the traditional jazz sound complete with walking bass and ad-libbed solos. It’s distinct on the album for a jazz stage centerpiece, especially with Hikari Ichihara’s essential trumpet tone and gut-pulling improvisation sharing the spotlight.

Track #9 “The Halfway to Babylon” is Nishiyama’s original composition, with a “Caravan”-like exoticism, darkness, and suspense combined with a “Parallax”-type sound (another of Nishiyama’s bands).

Track #10 “Green-Tinted Sixties Mind” (Mr. Big, Lean Into It, 1991) is all fun and groove, with extra tones delivered by guest saxophonist Hashizume. There’s the feel of a power pop/prog song, but also with glances of hair metal (as Mr. Big was included in, fairly or not) from the ‘90s. The mood is happy and infectious, and this tune serves as a great wrap-up, balancing the power and grit of the album as a whole by locking into the good times and disappearing in a volume fade-out.

Much more is described in the liner notes, translated below. From Nishiyama’s NHORHM song selection process and preparations (and going to see some of these bands live as a fan for the full experience), to her careful reformatting, rewriting, and rearranging, a lot of effort and energy was devoted to this. It resulted in a finely imagined and perfected product through NHORHM’s fantastic performances and the final recording. There are even extended notes on Nishiyama’s blog that go into further detail. It all goes to show how seriously Nishiyama, Orihara, and Hashimoto took this project. It may have seemed like just a quirky whim at first, not only to Nishiyama and the project director, but even to listeners who glance skeptically as such a monstrous hybrid, or rather, a musical experiment. Nishiyama puts a lot of thought and work into her projects, into her playing, composing, releasing new albums, and communicating her thoughts, and the fans rejoice, whether jazz or metal or both or other.

What is NWOBHM?

Although I was a mildly rebellious kid in America who was heavily into ‘80s metal and “The Big Four” Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax, the abbreviation NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) was not one I remember being familiar with. As far as those bands from overseas, I knew the obvious gods Iron Maiden (whom I also adored), and the British and European legends that would show up in videos on Headbangers Ball or through offers from Columbia Record Club: Motorhead, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Diamond Head (who was specifically raised to my consciousness by Metallica’s cover of their song “Am I Evil” on The $5.98 E.P.—Garage Days Re-Revisited)… And this is even glossing over the likely more influential ‘70s with groundbreaking bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Ozzy (and “Iron Man” is later covered by NHORHM on New Heritage of Real Heavy Metal II…), Deep Purple, UFO, Budgie, Queen, Thin Lizzy, Scorpions, and on and on). In general, I didn’t distinguish too much between many American and overseas bands at the time, and this may have been why categories like NWOBHM passed me by. Apparently however, the youthful, raw, and energetic DIY influence of this New Wave (of British Heavy Metal) was definitely strongly felt in Europe, the Americas, and Japan—whether the abbreviation was prevalent as a category term or not—where the above-mentioned bands would sell out large arenas and influence Japanese metal bands like X Japan, Loudness, Bow Wow, and Ningen Isu.

There is some controversy and debate over whether the NWOBHM label is a legitimate label or merely a marketing term coined by a journalist in order to categorize bands and boost magazine sales. Still, the grassroots energy and group affinity this movement started is undeniable, musically and culturally, and what may have started as marketing eventually became useful as a shorthand and a cultural identity for the music fans and the bands themselves, not to mention a historical touchstone.

Enough of the history, and back to this NHORHM album.

Liner Notes

(Translated from the booklet quotes and Hitomi Nishiyama’s original Japanese liner notes.)

I made my debut in 2006 with “Cubium”, a recording made in Sweden and released on the Spice of Life label under the umbrella of the company Amuse, and have since released 13 more albums.

From time to time in various jazz magazine interviews and liner notes, I’ve touched upon the fact that, in high school, I was a fan of Yngwie Malmsteen.

I had been diligently studying piano up until the second year of high school, and then one day, something suddenly snapped, and I stopped playing piano completely for one year. During that time, the thing I was totally fixated on was metal.

I had a lot of friends who were in bands, so I developed an interest in the music that they were listening to and trying so hard to copy. When I heard it, it was tremendously interesting. I joined in on the listening and became absorbed in the music. In particular, by the album The Seventh Sign by Yngwie Malmsteen. I listened to it like crazy.

When I decided to record my debut album in Sweden, the first thing that I thought of was that it was Yngwie’s country.

Probably as a reaction to classical piano, I discovered the joy of the guitar. During the time that I was focused on Yngwie, I also listened a lot to others: Steve Vai, Dream Theater, Stratovarius, Mr. Big, and others. Going down this path, I also listened to a lot of Deep Purple and Rainbow. After that, when I entered the jazz department of a music college, I became so immersed in jazz that I ended up not listening to metal.

The idea for this project started from a conversation I had with Jun Abe, this album’s director, about making an album of covers of current animation songs.

As Abe and I were chatting, I mentioned that as far as animation song covers went, I liked the cool Animetal USA the best [Animetal USA is an American heavy metal group that plays animation covers in a heavy metal style, and is a tribute band to the original Japanese band Animetal]. About thirty minutes later, Abe said, “Going back to what we were talking about, I wonder if, in the opposite direction, you can cover metal songs with jazz?” I immediately thought, “I want to do that!” And so this project began.

In fact, for years I had been thinking that I’d like to cover the song “In the Dead of the Night” by U.K. with my band Parallax. This song, more progressive rock than metal, is one that I first heard on Yngwie’s album “Inspiration.” When I actually went and heard it live at a Yngwie concert, this cool song made the biggest impression on me. Plus, it was the first song we worked on with my first cover band, and for that reason, in addition to my memories of metal, it’s an extremely important song in my musical life.

Initially, Abe and I talked about how many jazz musicians have previously done songs by bands like Led Zeppelin and Frank Zappa, and how there is an affinity between jazz and the progressive side of things. Could we do something that had not been played much in jazz up until now?

As it worked out, I hadn’t really been into Led Zeppelin or Frank Zappa during my high school days. I was just listening to metal, and mainly Yngwie. Moreover, as an acoustic pianist and considering the instrument itself, there was absolutely no relation to the metal genre. With the thought that I might be able to create something interesting, I started to work on this project.

For the song selection, only the previously mentioned “In the Dead of the Night” was decided upon. For the rest, I re-listened to all of the metal CDs I had at home starting in January of this year, and I added some new ones. I selected the songs from listening to a grand total of about 100 albums.

I truly wanted to capture the spirit of that era of the early 1990s, and of those who started bands then and aspired to play metal. Most of the people in bands at that time must have played songs by Mr. Big, Megadeth, and Pantera, which I thought were essential to include.

In addition, I had to pin down some metal classics representing the kind of historical standards of that era, from groups like Rainbow and Deep Purple.

Then, as I was looking into various things after the project started, I bought an album by Babymetal that piqued my interest. It was so intense that I got completely hooked on it and promptly came up with a cover version. On a related note, producers will often tell artists to be sure to include one recent popular song in order to increase sales, which the artist ends up covering dispassionately. In this case, though, I chose to include Babymetal of my own volition. To be honest, at first I thought of them as a novelty idol group, but they are a truly wonderful project that is reshaping the course of the history of metal, and I’m a big fan. Director Abe had requested that I include one song tackling head-on the technical style of metal, so to that end, I decided to do a new song from Angra, a band I had re-listened to for this project and thought was interesting. I wanted to hear them live, too, so I went to listen to them on their Japanese tour. This was my first standing metal concert since seeing Ningen Isu [人間椅子] back in my college days, and I was worried whether I’d be able to handle it well physically, but it was very fun and I came away in high spirits. It was exactly what is meant by “They became what they were fighting against.”

I spent a lot of time on the song selection process. Something that was different from before was that I was listening not only from the perspective of a listener, but also as a player and a producer. When it comes to acoustic piano covers, instrument-wise, it’s impossible to imitate the essential metal qualities of “heavy, fast, strong.” Plus, the use of repetition to make the music stronger is somewhat at odds with the improvisational nature of jazz. So, I chose songs considering the song essentials—even if they didn’t have power chords, or guitar palm-mute chugging, or double-bass drums, or repetition—songs with strong melodies whose personalities definitely wouldn’t deteriorate, and songs that I could nevertheless arrange into my own music. And while it might sound smooth when it’s written out like that, in the end, these are just songs that I personally like. As a result, this selection includes a collection of songs from a wide range of generations, from Deep Purple to Babymetal, and I aimed to cover them from the standpoint of someone in their 30s as much as possible.

The trio’s members are all excellent players of the same generation and active at the forefront of the Japanese jazz scene. We all came through metal, of course, and at rehearsals we’d talk about those times, the songs we had listened to in common, and stories about those bands. It felt like we were high school students again.

With jazz, knowing how much and what to improvise according to the situation, and managing what happens on any particular day, you must maintain an extremely high degree of constant idling while in the midst of performing at live events almost every day. It can feel like living in a state of tension on a daily basis. Somehow, I had felt that the excitement and freshness of music was standing apart from myself. But when I began listening to metal again, I felt as if I were prostrating myself before its overwhelming power and perspective. A feeling of a “Wow, this is so cool, what is this!”-type of excitement returned. I had the sense that this stimulation, so critically important when starting out, had somehow become lacking in my daily musical life. But thanks to this project, my usual musical performance activities have become more distinctive as well, and I am deeply appreciative of this.

When putting together this album, there were songs we recorded but could not include, and other songs we wanted to record but already had too many. I’ve now already started fantasizing about the song selection for a second, follow-up album.

西山瞳 Hitomi Nishiyama

(These liner notes are from the time of the 2015 album release.)

Really Great approach to Angra’s song. The original metal version is very influenced by Latin Fusion, and it’s very cool to listen to it in this Latin jazz format. Excellent arrangement.

KIKO LOUREIRO (ANGRA/MEGADETH)

This is completely different from any metal cover album I’ve ever listened to…not to mention, jazz!

It exquisitely captures the parts familiar to fans of the originals and hard rock/heavy metal and transforms them beautifully into jazz.

This is a wonderful cover album that, in addition to making you realize the charms of jazz, also makes you want to listen to the original versions again.

Marty Friedman (guitarist)

All of the covers keep the original flavor while adding new melodies to the song themes, and it’s really fun, killer to listen to! Mr. Big’s “60’S MIND” is especially great!!! As a true metalhead, after listening to this “NHORHM”, I have the feeling that I’ll start getting addicted to jazz too!

大村孝佳 Takayoshi Ohmura (guitarist from C4, LIV MOON, BABYMETAL, etc.)

When I listen to NHORHM, I am surprised to hear that heavy metal can be so stylish! All of the arrangements are very nice. As a metalhead, I always thought that jazz musicians didn’t recognize metal as music, but in this case, I could feel their enthusiasm and respect for metal. And the melodicism of the accompaniment is even more interesting than the original songs!! Unbelievable! (laughs)

鈴木ヤスナリオ Yasunario Suzuki (Koenji Metal Meshi)

Extended Liner Notes

As an extension of the liner notes, Hitomi Nishiyama’s post on NHOHRM goes into more detail about this release. This page also contains links for Nishiyama’s track-by-track notes (links are in the 曲解説 section), with a few extra video links and behind-the-scenes photos of the recording. Some quick excerpts:

• #1 “In the Dead of the Night” - From the very first song, you might say, that’s not metal!…
• #2 “Walk” - Swing, groove, and timing in jazz and metal.
• #3 “Man on the Silver Mountain” - Yngwie, Rainbow, Dio, and impressions of this song.
• #4 “Skin O’ My Teeth” - Keeping true to the original, bridging the gap between jagged metal and the smooth sound of piano by using vocals.
• #5 “Fear of the Dark” - How Iron Maiden was one of Nishiyama’s first inspirations for songs for the album. Also explains the NHORHM initialism a bit, and how acoustic guitar over electric was chosen for this jazz/metal hybrid.
• #6 “Upper Levels” - About tackling the technical side head-on, and how producer/director Abe is not by nature a metal fan and left those decisions (song choices, etc) completely up to Nishiyama. Also, about Nishiyama’s love and respect for Angra’s album Temple of Shadows (2004).
• #7 “悪夢の輪舞曲” - Nishiyama’s exposure to new music and metal through MTV, and how heavy metal became uncool as new trends (grunge, alternative) took over. And how Babymetal links back to Amuse, a company under which she released her debut album.
• #8 “Demon’s Eye” - Including the hard rock roots of heavy metal to do heavy metal properly, and how the trumpet lends an immediate jazz tone to the music.
• #9 “The Halfway to Babylon” - Answering the question “Why did you include one song you composed yourself?” and a deep exploration of genres and open-mindedness.
• #10 “Green-Tinted Sixties Mind” - On the famous guitar-tapping intro, the fusion feel, the addition of sax, and the laugh-out-loud elements
• Member Q&A - Brief bios, influences, and recommendations from each member of NHORHM.

Obi Notes

Groundbreaking! A jazz pianist releases a cover album of famous heavy metal songs!!! Hitomi Nishiyama’s new project “NHORHM” begins! <Cover model: Lukino Fujisaki>

Audio and Video

• Promotional video with #1 “In the Dead of the Night (U.K.)”, #6 “Upper Levels (Angra)”, #7 “Akumu no Rinbukyoku (Babymetal)”, and #4 “Skin O’ My Teeth (Megadeth)”:

• “Walk (Pantera)” (track #2) — live version:

• “Man on the Silver Mountain (Rainbow)” (track #3) — live version:

• “Fear of the Dark (Iron Maiden)” (track #5) — live version:

• “The Halfway to Babylon” (track #9) — live version:

• “Highway Star (Deep Purple)” (album outtake) — studio version:

• Excerpt from track #6: “Upper Levels”

Links

• NHORHM Information

• Hitomi Nishiyama’s post on NHOHRM (December 10, 2015)

The two have released their own leader albums and recordings with other groups, but this is the first album to be released under their co-named band partnership and builds on their vast experience playing together in various settings.

Four of the eleven songs are covers taken from jazz and Latin music. The one tune lifted from the jazz songbook is Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence”. This is an inspired jazz choice for a duo and the result is great—a nicely arranged and precisely played guitar-vocal version of the addictive and off-kilter tune.

The three other cover songs are pulled from Brazilian music, with track 5 “Feliz” and 4 “É” by the singer-songwriter Gonzaguinha, and track 10 “Pedra Bonita” by the composer Mario Adnet. The latter two songs are particularly energized by a full quintet sound with members of the group “Nobie Especial Band” joining on piano, bass, and percussion to lay out entrancing rhythms for the guitar and voice acrobatics.

When not scat-singing on these songs, Nobie sings lyrics that have been translated into Japanese, adding another unique twist to the mix of Brazil and Japan that Nobie embodies so well.

The seven original songs are led by the album opener “Introduction”, a short and wordless vocal welcome that sets the stage with Nobie’s vocal overdubs and percussion. The riff turns through a hypnotic cycle over a slippery beat, similar to some of the music she creates with another of her groups, the trio Les Komatis.

Tracks 6 through 9 are four of guitarist Takayoshi Baba’s songs played by Baba and Nobie as a duo. The songs are a blend of soulful pop, quick and technical phrases played in unison, dreamy spaces, dazzling scatting, and a short etude as an impressive vocal-guitar workout. While #6 “Kaze no Mama ni” includes Japanese lyrics, Nobie scat-sings and vocalizes as an instrument on tracks 7, 8, and 9, playing in unison with Baba’s guitar or voicing the melody at different times. Baba’s classical guitar with fingerstyle virtuosity elevates the Latin, jazz, and contemporary fusion like a version of The Guitar Trio of Paco de Lucía, John McLaughlin, and Al Di Meola, particularly when Baba overdubs his guitar solos over his rhythm-playing and fingerpicking.

Nobie’s golden sweet voice is ever charming, deceptively soft but ultra dynamic, and powered by a nimble and quick lightness that leaps effortlessly above a foundation of a locked-in sense of time and rhythms. In certain songs, Nobie will also often add claps, slaps, hand percussion, or vocal pops, clicks, and percussive sounds for added rhythmic layers, sometimes even simultaneously while singing.

Like the album’s opener, the final song, track 11 “Komaku” (eardrum), departs slightly from the rest of the music. This parting song creates a wide open, ambient space for the album’s outro with lush guitar delays and effects drawing a spellbinding mood similar to her tune “Loop” on her debut album Primary.

Liner Notes

(Translated from Shinichi Tokunaga’s original Japanese liner notes.)

In 2018, Nobie created her album Bénin-Rio-Tokyo featuring three powerful guitarists with different nationalities and backgrounds. Shortly before this, I had heard of her plans to record with Lionel Loueke, and I had no doubt that something great would result from that. But an interesting thing about music is that no matter how great the players are, it doesn’t necessarily always work out when they play together. Despite interacting and hitting it off through the internet, will they be able to generate the same energy as seen at Nobie’s past performances at Aoyama’s Praça Onze, say, where the audience would become one with the band with the incandescence of white heat?

Based on the results when that album was released, these fears were completely unfounded, and a masterpiece exceeding expectations was born. Lionel hails from the Republic of Benin and is at the forefront of modern-day jazz. Toninho Horta continues to provide a great influence on jazz from the Brazilian music side. The two together play off each other’s strengths without holding back, fully engaged and solidly facing off with mutual respect (if you listen to the tracks where they cover their own songs, their level of commitment is clear). Nobie’s extraordinary ability also stands out, and Takayoshi Baba’s guitar playing on the album closer, Akiko Yano’s famous song “Gohan ga Dekita yo”, enhances the merits of this album even more. There’s an overpowering feeling of being moved by this third independent vector that expands the dimensions beautifully. Anyone who listens to this sound would probably want to hear more. Releasing this new album under the duo name of Nobie and Baba is an extremely natural progression.

Those listeners who have picked up this album must already be quite familiar with Baba. But if not, one reason for any unfamiliarity may be due to his only having released one album under his name (note 1) and a relatively low level of activity with his name in the lead position. However, the opportunities for avid jazz fans to have come into contact with Baba are not few due to his many and various live performances and recordings. It’s not uncommon that a reliable musician will keep a packed schedule, being a trusted musician who is often asked to perform with other musicians. As a result, they can end up being so busy that they have an unexpectedly low number of their own leader albums. Baba fits that example.

According to an interview in one article (note 2), when Junko Onishi (undoubtedly one of Japan’s most famous jazz pianists) wanted a guitarist to join her on a recording for the first time in her long career, everyone around her recommended Baba. He is truly a first-call guitarist in the jazz scene in Japan. The nice feeling of the touch of his picking on a nylon string acoustic guitar is worth special mention. There’s no hiding the tone of poorly played nylon strings even through processing, and it can end up sounding cheap. This guitarist’s sense and delicacy, and his ability to perfectly perceive and control the physical vibration of the strings through his ears and fingertips, are easily apparent. This is a virtue that is shared by Lionel, Toninho, and Baba, a point that I would love to emphasize as a writer with a fairly long (self-proclaimed) career as an acoustic guitar music critic writing for classical guitar publications.

The album begins with Nobie’s overdubbed a cappella vocals on “Introduction”. This very short track may have been arranged from a suddenly improvised phrase, and it reminds me of her innovative a cappella version of “Blue Rondo a la Turk” on Bénin-Rio-Tokyo. The next song is “Owari to Hajimari”, an original composition by Nobie. The performance features the duo of Nobie and Baba with the addition of the rhythm master Yoichi Okabe (percussion), a veteran member of the “Nobie Especial Band”. The song has a light and lively groove, but there is also a sense of painful longing. It’s a masterpiece and a superb performance worthy of the album title. This is Nobie’s authentic self as someone who has mastered the essence of Brazilian music.

The cover songs were selected from well-known jazz and Brazilian classics. Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence” is often taken up by jazz musicians, but a vocal scat and guitar version may be unprecedented. The special weightless feeling of Monk’s music is full of many vivid ideas, and the colorful sound of voice and guitar pushing the limits of expression is overwhelming.

Two songs were written by Gonzaguinha, a singer-songwriter who exhibited an excellent yet distinct individuality from his father Luiz Gonzaga, composer of the song “Asa Branca” which is known as Brazil’s second national anthem. The Japanese lyrics were translated by an emerging scholar of Brazilian literature, Nobuhiro Fukushima (福嶋伸洋), who in 2022 was awarded the Grand Prize in Japan’s Best Translation Award for his translation of Clarice Lispector’s The Hour of the Star. While remaining faithful to the original lyrics, the Japanese words match the Brazilian rhythms flawlessly and make these songs even more attractive as covers. Shigeki Miyata (宮田茂樹), who produced Bénin-Rio-Tokyo, gave his stamp of approval by saying “These songs definitely need to be included” and contacting the family of Gonzaguinha to obtain permission for use of the Japanese versions of the lyrics. The full Nobie Especial Band groove is bursting on “É” with the addition of a top jazz pianist from Nobie’s generation Mayuko Katakura, and bassist Kiichiro Komobuchi, who has rich experience at the forefront of the jazz and Brazilian music scenes. “Feliz” leads to an about-face as the beauty of Nobumasa Tanaka’s piano creates a sense of glittering light within the tranquility. The contrast between the two tracks is wonderful.

The album includes one more Brazilian song in Mario Adnet’s “Pedra Bonita”. Adnet is an important figure in the contemporary Brazilian music scene and has worked on projects such as João Gilberto Eterno, the João Gilberto tribute album from 2021 which he co-produced with Shigeki Miyata. While Nobie was staying in Rio de Janeiro to participate in the recording of Toninho Horta’s album Minas-Tokyo (also produced by Miyata, incidentally), she met Adnet there and seems to have learned about this song then. Later, Nobie obtained the sheet music from Adnet through Miyata and began to perform this song regularly at live shows. This led to the song being included in this album. Upon seeing videos of those live performances, Adnet seems to have been greatly pleased, as he has stamped his seal of approval as the song’s original composer.

The second half of the album also contains four of Baba’s original songs. Baba has performed with many other singers in addition to Nobie, but “Kaze no Mama ni” is the first original song of his that he’s released with lyrics. Nobie’s lyrics fit perfectly, and if you weren’t told otherwise, you wouldn’t have thought that this song was written by a jazz musician. Three of these songs are lyric-less, and Nobie sings in a scat style. There is a taste of modern Brazilian music reminiscent of Gismonti and Ginga with elements of jazz and rock contained within, and each is an unreserved demonstration of Baba’s superb compositional talent.

With the grand beauty and impact of the final song, Nobie’s “Eardrum”, this album can be declared perfect. It’s an album that follows in the footsteps of Bénin-Rio-Tokyo and should be released into the world. I would like to once again express my sincere appreciation to Nobie and Baba for delivering such a magnificent album so naturally. I only wish that I could have shared my feelings with Shigeki Miyata, who departed from this world in July 2022, and who was probably eagerly awaiting this album’s completion more than anybody else!

Shinichi Tokunaga (徳永 伸一): Music Writer, Associate Professor at Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Note 1: Gray-Zone (2013, Song&Co label)

Note 2: Ototoy “Junko Onishi releases her long-awaited first collection of ballads with her regular trio after 8 years” (interview and text: Mitsutaka Nagira [柳樂光隆]) https://ototoy.jp/feature/20171110

Audio and Video

• Promotional video for this album:

• Promotional video for “Owari to Hajimari”, track #2 on this album:

• Nobie and Baba on a 2023 album tour with live versions of #2 “Owari to Hajimari”:

• … #4 “É”:

• … #6 “Kaze no Mama ni”:

• … #9 “Estudio #1”:

• … #10 “Pedra Bonita”:

• Album streams (TuneCore Japan)

• Excerpt from track #2: “おわりとはじまり (The end and the beginning)”

Links

• Owari to Hajimari website

Whether singing in English on four tracks or Japanese on five tracks, Ishikawa’s voice is crystal clear and up front in the mix, directly conveying her skill and emotional power storytelling through song. The album works to maintain interest with arrangements and compositions influenced by jazz, pop, rock, Latin, musicals, and classic songwriters such as Stevie Wonder and Freddie Mercury.

As for jazz covers, the album opens with the refreshing “It Might as Well Be Spring” and the ballad “Angel Eyes”, performed here with an enticingly sultry nightclub vibe. The cute throwback “Goody-Goody” takes the role of a traditional swing jazz tune embellished with Japanese bamboo flute, and the exciting title track “Fever” is played with uptempo verve and abandon. The Japanese pop hit “Hanamizuki” is also covered, a well-known 2004 song from Japan used in an acclaimed movie by the same name and popular in karaoke rooms.

In addition to jazz, Trigraph also features five of their well-crafted original compositions: the sweetly tender “Appreciation”, the passionate “Akanegumo”, the restful “Etude for Shakuhachi and Guitar”, the ballad “Eternal Snow”, and the grand and swelling “Barau”.

Audio and Video

• Trigraph performing the title track “Fever” live:

• Trigraph performing the Cyndi Lauper hit “Time After Time”, opening with a live-looped shakuhachi intro:

• Excerpt from track #1: “It Might As Well Be Spring”

The graceful players combine the dimensions of Hori’s precise, finessed notes and Baba’s snazzy, bluesy lines at relaxed mid-tempo jaunts, rapid and fluid modern pieces, Latin grooves, and gentle ballads. The music is joyful and emotive, and the two converse with a comfortable flow built solidly on their years performing in various settings. The duo clearly enjoys playing together and it comes through in their playful, professional music.

Two of the songs also feature guest percussionist Saori Sendo, and add rich rhythms and dynamics on Bob Berg’s “Friday Night at the Cadillac Club” and Baba’s “J.M.”. The final track “Pedra Bonita” adds another successful layer, where the two musicians are joined by singer Aya Kurosawa on the grooving Brazilian celebration with a rousing vocal ending.

Audio and Video

• A live performance of Friday Night at the Cadillac Club:

• Jazz Street performance:

• Excerpt from track #2: “Choro de Tremolo”

The first four tracks represent Benin with Nobie and guitarist Lionel Loueke playing African and Brazilian music with flair over slick, fun rhythms. Nobie’s gorgeous vocal and percussive sounds add layers to the music, counterpointed beautifully by the deeper voice of Loueke, playing confidently together with joyful ease.

The Rio portion features legendary guitarist Toninho Horta playing two of his originals with Nobie. “Beijo Partido” is a mysterious, flowing lament with Nobie’s soft voice gracefully soaring over harmonically-shifting fields, while “Samba For Rudi” is a quick-footed vocalese feature, delightfully effusive and acrobatic.

On the Tokyo section, Nobie performs an impressive acapella version of Dave Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo a la Turk”, overdubbing her voice in several parts to brilliant effect. Guitarist Takayoshi Baba joins Nobie on the final track, a cute Japanese song which leaves the listener comforted and relaxed as the worldwide trip winds down.

Audio and Video

• Nobie and Toninho Horta performing “Beijo Partido” live:

• Nobie performing “Tombo in 7/4” live:

• Excerpt from track #1: “Karibu”

The first track on Grown-up Christmas Gift is the main show, a thirteen-minute “Christmas Medley” featuring Ishikawa’s resonant voice gracing seven classic holiday tunes and popular songs. Stops on the musical tour include “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let it Snow!”, “Silent Night”, “Jingle Bells”, “Winter Wonderland”, “The Christmas Song”, and “Happy Xmas”. As the singer moves from song to song, the mood, rhythm, and instrumentation change as well, where jazz piano, organ, guitar, and choirs result in a charming holiday medley.

Track two features Ishikawa with “Soft Voice”, a four-part vocal group singing “Sutekina Holiday” in Japanese, and the final track presents her intimate duo of vocal and guitar performing the Billboard pop hit “Grown-up Christmas List”.

Audio and Video

• Promotional video for Sanae Ishikawa’s “Everything”:

• Excerpt from track #1: “クリスマス・メドレー (Christmas Medley)”