Jake H. Concepcion -- Pure Imagination

Well, as they say, I'll be darnder than shoo-fly pie!

After decades seeing his name on lots of liner notes and hearing his wonderful saxophone on lots of Japanese pop songs, I actually discovered that Jake H. Concepcion（ジェイク・コンセプション）sang! And may I say, he does pretty nicely, especially on one of my adored songs, "Pure Imagination" which was sung by the late Gene Wilder on the original "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" back in 1971.

Concepcion's sung version made its presence known on his 1983 album "J", and of course, his saxophone also has a nice part in "Pure Imagination". The arrangement has that soaring laidback AOR feeling but the magic of the original is still in there which goes to show how great songwriters Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley were.

It's been a little over a year since Wilder passed away. And even though he was hilarious in those Mel Brooks' capers "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles" and through his work with Richard Pryor, I think I will always cherish him as Willy Wonka especially in the scene above.