This latest album is the first time the two have released an album as a duo. Their duo format here neatly follows the intimate, two-musician approach patterned in Matsumoto’s recent recordings. While her early releases focused on the piano trio format (as jazz models, she’s a big fan of the piano styles of Oscar Peterson and Phineas Newborn Jr., with an addictively fascinating play solidly in that mold), her recent albums have explored solo and duo formats. And while Hamasaki’s power and fluency are on mighty display with his co-leader Hideaki Hori in that pair’s long-running Encounter group, his versatility extends to other emotionally rich duos such as with the amazing pianist Mayuko Katakura.

Speaking of versatility and variety, one special feature of this album that Hamasaki had in mind when planning the recording was to accomplish one of his persistent goals, that of using a wide range of instruments throughout the session. Spanning the whole sax family, he blows the baritone sax (track #1, “Listen to My Blues”), tenor sax (#2 “Black Orpheus” and #9 “Over the Rainbow”), alto sax (#6 “Hometown Blues”), and soprano sax (#8 “In a Mellow Tone” and *10 “Someday My Prince Will Come”), as well as two flutes (#3 “Sometime Ago”, #4 “On a Clear Day”, #5 “Sun Shower”, and #7 “How My Heart Sings”). All tracks but one were recorded in the studio, and the last song is a live bonus track recorded at the famous Osaka club Mister Kelly’s. This closer is included here as a tribute to that favorite jazz club and beloved owner Akira Sakurai, who passed away around the time that the album was being produced, and to whom this album is dedicated.

Listen to My Blues contains ten songs, eight great jazz standards and covers with two originals from Hamasaki, with a running time of about fifty minutes. The sax player’s two original compositions, #1 “Listen to My Blues” and #6 “Hometown Blues” are down-to-earth mid-tempo grooves, as bluesy as the titles indicate. Yet, much of the album switches in high gear, perhaps unusual for a duo recording, and a majority of the songs are taken at uptempo speeds: “Black Orpheus”, #4 “On a Clear Day”, #8 “In a Mellow Tone”, and others are all off to the races. The duo gets into a blue, deeply affecting mood on Kenny Barron’s beautiful song “Sunshower” (#5), and the romantic ballad “Over the Rainbow” (#9) becomes a lovely showcase for Matsumoto’s finely crafted piano intro and Hamasaki’s emotive tenor voice.

Liner Notes

(Translated from Akane Matsumoto’s and Wataru Hamasaki’s original Japanese liner notes.)

Thank you very much to everyone who got a hold of this album. From songs that are familiar to all listeners, to heart-stirringly beautiful tunes and soul blues (!), this work is fully packed with the enjoyment of jazz. It brings me so much pleasure to be able to deliver this music to you, unified into singular its form with Wataru-san as we traveled all over the country.

There’s no greater joy than sharing the happiness of jazz with you all, whether through CDs or at live performances. It would make me so happy if this album could result in thoughts like “Wow, jazz is great” and “I like jazz even more than before.”

I would like to thank the listeners, bar masters, and mama-sans at the live venues throughout the country for all your constant and kind support, and I’ll take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Akane Matsumoto

Thank you to everyone who listens to this album. This is also thanks to all those who continue to support us. Gratitude!!

One challenge that I’ve always wanted to try is to bring out the full saxophone family of soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone! There may be a strong impression of me as a tenor player, but I love soprano, alto, and especially baritone sax. Probably most people have not seen me playing those (I’m always hiding when I do so, ha ha).

For many years, I’ve been endorsing Woodstone soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones with the full support of Ishimura Wind Instruments. I am truly grateful.

The baritone sax is a Selmer Mark VI. It’s an excellent instrument that was entrusted to me by an old friend. The flutes include a Flute Masters handmade silver flute and a Brannen 14K handmade flute, both which I use depending on the song.

Of course, paying attention to the relentlessly explosive pianism of Akane’s playing is absolutely essential. I’m so happy that we are able to release an album from the duo that we’ve been cultivating for a long time.

Finally, the bonus track “Someday My Prince Will Come” is a performance from Osaka’s Mister Kelly’s, which regrettably has closed down. I am also greatly indebted to the recently deceased Sakurai-san of Mister Kelly’s, who supported us incredibly, and my fond memories of him and the diving and wine-drinking every month in Okinawa are endless. Dedicated to Sakurai-san.

Wataru Hamasaki

Obi Notes

An explosive pianist, a roaring horn. The mad rush of movement and rare presence of the full use of the saxophone family, from baritone to soprano, and even flute playing. An appetizing recording that fully expresses the allure of jazz and pulls listeners into a state of joy.

Audio and Video

• “Listen to My Blues” (duo live, version 1):

• “Black Orpheus” (duo live):

• “Listen to My Blues” (duo live, version 2):

• “In a Mellow Tone” (duo live):

• “What a Wonderful World” (duo live, aquarium version):

• “Like Sonny” (duo live):

• Excerpt from track #1: “Listen to my Blues”

This first Encounter album is bursting with energy, and it feels like the inspiration that each player gets from the others irresistibly drives them to reach for the stars. The four members of Encounter—Wataru Hamasaki on sax and flute, Hideaki Hori on piano, Hiroshi Takase on bass, and Junji Hirose on drums—are always busy touring and playing in this regular group lineup for their live shows. In addition, as a special guest on their first album, Satoshi Takino plays electric guitar on three tracks.

These players present modern jazz built on the foundations of the classic contemporary jazz quartet sound. The sound and inspiration of the music owes a lot to the co-leadership of Hori and Hamasaki. These are the two primary songwriters for the band and seem to be cut from the same cloth, offering novel compositions with challenging terrain that the skilled improvisers navigate in breathtaking ways. Yet, they intentionally do not stray too far from the solid bedrock of reliably swinging jazz they cherish.

On Encounter, the songwriting pair recorded a set of 11 originals, with authorship split nearly evenly between the two composers. It’s clear that they enjoy writing (and that the band enjoys playing and delivering) excitingly aggressive uptempo burners, such as with #1 “ASK”, #4 “Signal”, #7 “OOPARTS”, #10 “Jack-O’-Lantern”.

The roots of their in-the-pocket swing also reach deep, perfected by the sense and time of bassist Takase and drummer Hirose. Much of the music provides a classic midtempo walking pulse, with the cheerful #2 “Breath of Life”, the crafty #3 “Puzzle Ring” (in 7/4 time), the confident #5 “Quarter man” (calling Dexter Gordon?), and the wonderful #9 “Wayne”.

Balancing out the near non-stop excitement and never-ending energy, there are a few slower ballads in the ephemeral #6 “Hanauta”, the romantic #8 “My Heart” (still calling LTD?), and the beautiful album closer #11 “Sound of Ocean”.

While this article focuses on Hori and Hamasaki’s 2008 Encounter, it would be serendipitous to mention some recent news here. At seventeen years and running, Encounter just released two new albums entitled Best Vol. 1 and /Best Vol. 2 /recently. These two compilations (of a sort) don’t indicate the twilight of Encounter. Instead, they are intended to meet a consistent demand for old albums, like this one, that are out of print or hard to find. At the same time, the two songwriters took this opportunity to revive, rearrange, and re-record popular songs from their live shows and early albums.

It’s also noteworthy that Encounter’s new album Best Vol. 1 also contains new versions of three songs from this album: “Sound of Ocean”, “My Heart”, and “Hanauta”.

Liner Notes

(Translated from Hideaki Hori’s and Wataru Hamasaki’s original Japanese liner notes.)

Song introductions by their composers:

1. ASK (Hideaki Hori)

This is a song that is often played to open our live performances. The energetic rhythm with a buoyant melody and chord progressions seem to stir up the front line of the band, urge them on, and put things in gear. This hints at the original hidden meaning of the title “ASK”… [/The three-letter title in uppercase is an abbreviation for something mildly naughty enough to be avoided being printed on a jazz CD release at the time…/]

2. Breath of life (Hideaki Hori)

This is a song dedicated to all living creatures. To the strength, joy, and vivaciousness of life. The beat that Hiroshi Takase and Junji Hirose spin expresses that vitality so wonderfully that, upon hearing, it, the heart naturally seems to start to dance.

3. Puzzle Ring (Wataru Hamasaki)

In Japanese translation, it’s 知恵の輪 (chie no wa). Depending on how you solve them, puzzle rings can be easy or difficult. This song has the feeling of playing with a puzzle ring. Also, Hideaki Hori’s base, the jazz club Nardis in Kashiwa, has a bunch of puzzle rings lined up on the counter, and he’s always playing with them. So this title was also chosen as a tribute to Nardis. I think we got a really well-coordinated take.

4. Signal (Wataru Hamasaki)

This song is actually a remake of a song that I wrote a long time ago. It turned into an up-tempo, aggressive performance. Inspired by guest guitarist Satoshi Takino, everyone is bursting with energy.

5. Quarter man (Hideaki Hori)

I wrote a song about my admiration of the coolness and the melancholy that can be ascribed to a man who has grown up to be an adult. Wataru Hamasaki’s calm tone has a great feel and fits this song perfectly.

6. 花唄 -Hanauta- (Hideaki Hori)

This is a Japanese-style song where the flute almost sounds like a shakuhachi(!?). In fact, Hamasaki seems to have played this with a shakuhachi-like sound in mind. This melody came to me while I was out walking on a nice day in early spring. [/The Japanese kanji for this song, 花唄 is read as “hanauta” here to mean “flower song”, and is a play on the similar-sounding word 鼻歌 “hanauta”, which means “humming”./]

7. OOPARTS (Wataru Hamasaki)

This title is an abbreviation of Out of Place Artifacts. This refers to those historical objects that were created by technology that’s hard to imagine existing when they were made—the moai statues of Easter Island, for example. I happened to be reading a book about OOPARTS at the time I wrote this song, which is where I got the title. Junji Hirose’s drumming during the theme section is quite invigorating.

8. My Heart (Wataru Hamasaki)

It’s been a long time since I wrote a ballad. I think I was able to include a lot of emotions in this song. This performance also captures a beautiful piano solo, wonderfully executed by Hideaki Hori.

9. Wayne (Hideaki Hori)

This is a song written for the beloved musician Wayne Shorter. You could also call it a hymn to hard bop with its truly jazzy feel, and listening to the theme transports musicians and listeners back to the 60s.

10. Jack-O’-Lantern (Hideaki Hori)

The theme is just one motif repeating over and over, with the energy increasing steadily, rising up, and heading towards the peak… I think this is that kind of song. Instead of traditional in-order soloing, it was Wataru Hamasaki’s idea to incorporate a dialogue between sax and piano. Satoshi Takino’s great guitar solo is also remarkable.

11. Sound of Ocean (Wataru Hamasaki)

This is a gospel-style song dedicated to the inspiration for the title of this song, kaikyou, which means Mother Ocean. Perhaps it’s because I was raised in a town where you could see the ocean, but every time I come to the sea I can forget all my worries and relax. We always play this song last at live performances, and Hideaki Hori and I agreed that we should also end the album with this song. I’m barely holding it together at the end (laughs), and since we were originally planning a fade out here, I was having some fun with it. Hideaki Hori really liked it, though, so we left it in as it was recorded. I’d love it if hearing this cheers you up a little bit.

Audio and Video

• Live performance of #1 “ASK” from 2023:

• New recording of #5 “Quarter man” from 2020:

• Live performance of #10 “Jack-O’-Lantern” from 2022:

• New recording of #11 “Sound of Ocean” from 2024:

• Excerpt from track #6: “Hanauta”

Perhaps not well-known among standard jazz fans, the Routine Jazz Label from famed producer and DJ Kei Kobayashi gained international renown with “club jazz” compilations such as Schema, Deja Vu, and Ricky-Tick, beat-oriented music remixed with jazz and bossa nova samples for dance clubs and trance-leaning airwaves.

Here, Kobayashi joins forces with Takehiko Komine (owner of respected Tokyo jazz club Nardis) to produce “Routine Jazz Sextet”, a tongue-in-cheek comment on his popular club jazz albums, advertised as a “genuine jazz from Tokyo” response to popular club jazz. While straightforward jazz, in one way this is a crossover album, picking songs from the hard bop era that relate to samples and music used in club jazz.

With nine tracks over 39 minutes, the music is propulsive, boiling and full of energy. Most of the songs run at around four minutes, straight-ahead showcases for the horn arrangements and improvisations, as well as the unflagging power of the rhythm section which steams through the tracks. The songs include a nice blend of selections from America and Europe, bringing to mind the sounds of Cannonball Adderley, Wayne Shorter, and Ray Bryant, and of course the aforementioned hard bop giants Art Blakey and Horace Silver. Routine in name only, this is wholly enjoyable from start to finish.

Audio and Video

• Promotional video for a related album from Routine Jazz Quintet:

• Excerpt from track #3: “The Crosseyed Cat”

Vocalist Joké purrs atop her jazz group with a confident grace, a breathy tank of soulful emotion and romance. Her solidly swinging jazz combos feature accomplished veteran musicians, with a different group performing for “Side A” and “Side B of the recording as if on a classic jazz vinyl LP.

The music is done right, with an honest, straight-ahead vision, swinging and sliding through jazz standards like “Cheek to Cheek”, “Fly Me To The Moon”, and “Caravan” with tender authenticity. Aside from jazz, a few bonus pop songs add to the variety with “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and “Still Crazy After All These Years.”

Audio and Video

• Promotional video for this album:

• Excerpt from track #1: “Cheek To Cheek”

As “meets” indicates, Big Catch is led by two well-traveled and in-demand jazz players, saxophonist Wataru Hamasaki and pianist Akane Matsumoto, each active in popular groups in the J Jazz scene. With Big Catch, the horn player meets the piano trio and forms a quartet focused on turning out bold sounds of full-bodied jazz, groovy, bluesy, and full of pep.

With 11 tracks of mostly original songs and several jazz covers, the sound runs from mid-tempo groovy swing jazz (“Big Catch”, “Mean What You Say”) to exciting, up-tempo whiplashers, where the players gleefully race at speed, urging listeners to hang on for the ride (“Hiding Place”, “Playing”). For straight-ahead, satisfying jazz sax, comparisons could be made to the sounds of Gene Ammons, Ben Webster, and Coleman Hawkins, just to name a few. Among the tracks, two slower ballads are included, adding a nice balance of mellow comfort and lyricism (“If You Need A Friend” and “Monica”, where the soprano sax adds a floating, softly romantic sound).

While most of the tracks feature tenor sax, Hamasaki also adds color with soprano sax and flute, expertly played. On two tracks, Matsumoto takes center stage in piano trio format, on a straight-ahead version of “Love Letter” and her crowd-pleasing original tune “JJ”, putting her impressive Phineas Newborn Jr./Oscar Peterson-like piano dexterity on full display.

Cover art by Akane Matsumoto (dig those Big Catch big cats having a ball on the cover: “Swinging Soooo Hard!”).

Audio and Video

• Music from the album “Big Catch”:

• Excerpt from track #1: “BIG CATCH”