Katsutoshi Morizono and Bird's Eye View -- Blue Funk（ブルー・ファンク）

I really liked Katsutoshi Morizono's（森園勝敏）"Blue Funk" with his backing band Bird's Eye View right from the get-go. The sound is so mellow and creamy and of its time that it just reminded me of having not regular coffee but Viennese Coffee which has that huge dollop of whipped cream right on top. I've had plenty of those at a few of my favourite cafes in Tokyo and Chiba...sinfully delicious.

And just like when I had that Viennese Coffee, "Blue Funk" simply starts off with the creamy keyboard and those three chords that hint at a morning feeling. It's a great fusion tune that has me thinking of Steely Dan and Spyro Gyra. Plus, there is Morizono's amazing solo at 3:35 in the above video. The song is a track on his 3rd solo album "Escape" from 1980.

When I tried to look up guitarist Morizono, J-Wiki just led me to his old band Yonin Bayashi（四人囃子...The Four-Man Band）which had started out as a rock group in 1971 and had its first run between that year and 1979. Since then, it's gotten back together and broken up several times, but the band has been currently active since 2008, although it seems to be a trio right now with Daiji Okai（岡井大二）on drums and Hidemi Sakashita（坂下秀実）on keyboards.