★Three Blind Mice
Moon Ray
"Otomo is an alto player from the Jackie McLean school of tone and the Art Pepper institute for improvisation. In other words, his tone has an edge, but he always phrases and improvises melodically. With Tsuyoshi Yamamoto leading the rhythm section, the other two members, Tamiko Kawabata on bass and Arihide Kurata on drums, had to be ever watchful and vigilant that these proceedings didn't escape them altogether. The set opens with the hard blues wing of the title cut by Artie Shaw. Otomo pushes…
cool jojo
Third volume in a series of Takayanagi reissues on this Japanese jazz label. As with the prior Free Form Suite, this features super deluxe hardbound book-like packaging and "extended resolution CD" sound. First reissue of this obscure album, originally recorded in Dec. of 1979; with four bonus alternate takes issued for the first time. Takayanagi (guitar), Kenji Kohsei (piano, electric piano), Nobuyoshi Ino (bass), Yasuhiro Yamazaki (drums). A "cool jazz" recording in the Tristano tradition, All…