KEY FEATURES

• 3xLP pressed on 180g Classic Black Vinyl
• Packaged in a deluxe gatefold sleeve
• Mastered at the Grammy-nominated Carvery Studio by Frank Merritt

RELEASE DESCRIPTION

This latest station stop-off is with the famed Nippon Columbia label, one of the biggest labels in Japan, whose jazz output embraces every possible style imaginable. Focusing on the key years 1968-1981, J Jazz volume 4 sees compilers Tony Higgins and Mike Peden dig even deeper into their record collections and pull-out tracks that span styles ranging from solo to big band, jazz classical interpretations, and heavy jazz-rock, to febrile post-bop, white hot samba fusion, and modal psychedelic wig-outs.

J Jazz volume 4 features icons such as drum master Takeo Moriyama, keyboard magi Hiromasa Suzuki, Fumio Itabashi, and Masahiko Satoh, and guitar wizards Kazumi Watanabe and Kiyoshi Sugimoto, alongside big band maestros and innovators Nobuo Hara and his Sharps and Flats, and Toshiyuki Miyama’s New Herd. Thunderous basslines nestle alongside glistening runs of electric piano, bubbling synths and air-tight drumming as the heavy psychedelic modal blues of Jiro Inagaki flows with the infectious samba grooves of Takashi Mizuhashi featuring Herbie Hancock; Shigeharu Mukai’s fusion funk epics take the music to another level and Mikio Masuda’s driving keyboard rhythms brings the heat to an incendiary dancefloor zone.

With 7,000 words of extensive sleeve notes, J Jazz Vol 4 comes in a triple 180g vinyl set inside a deluxe gatefold sleeve with an OBI strip plus a 4-page insert. Mastered at the Grammy-nominated Carvery Studio by Frank Merritt, this latest collection is a worthy successor to the preceding three volumes that have set the bar so high.

TRACKLIST

1. Exchange – Takeo Moriyama
2. The Ground For Peace – Jiro Inagaki & His Soul Media
3. Chakkiri Bushi – Nobuo Hara and his Sharps & Flats
4. Trial Road – Tomoki Takahashi
5. A Muddy Muffin – Masahiko Sato
6. Samba de Negrito – Takashi Mizuhashi & Herbie Hancock
7. Scramble – Hiromasa Suzuki
8. Prelude To The Afternoon Of A Faun – Nobuo Hara and His Sharps & Flats
9. Jones Street – Kiyoshi Sugimoto
10. By The Red Stream – Hiromasa Suzuki
11. Kaleidoscope (Edit) – Mickie Yoshino & Kazumi Watanabe
12. Ougi Denju-shiki – Toshiyuki Miyama and His New Herd
13. Toppu – Shigeharu Mukai
14. Mickey’s Samba – Mikio Masuda

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