Ritsuko Kazami -- Kon'ya mo Tanoshiku（今宵も楽しく）

I've been holding back on the CD purchases for the past several weeks. That's no surprise even under the cloud of COVID-19. My policy is that I don't go on the kayo kyoku-buying binge until much later in the year around The Holidays, and certainly not around tax return season.

However, if I did break my own protocols, I would be getting at least something by actress/singer Ritsuko Kazami（風見律子）. I've already covered a couple of her tracks from her 2nd album "Aventurier" from August 1986, the romantically sweeping Mancini-esque title track and the Ohnuki-quirky "Onna Tomodachi: Reira no Baai"（女友達ーレイラの場合）.

Now with this third entry, I'm actually going to her debut album "Kiss of Fire" which was released in April 1985. Having taking a dip into some of the songs, it seems like Kazami with the help of producer Haruo Chikada（近田春夫）, who also wrote, composed and arranged all of the tracks, was swinging between jazz and City Pop with an underlayer of synthesizers.

Case in point is the first track "Kon'ya mo Tanoshiku" (Tonight's Fun, Too) which has that feeling of the South Seas as Kazami plays the beautiful chanteuse behind the huge mike in a concert hall from yesteryear. It's got that atmosphere of Tin Pan Alley and Kid Creole & The Coconuts along with that mix of Latin, jazz and synthpop, although I think that last genre is a little less dominant until near the end when the cutesy chorus starts singing away with its "Wah". That last part actually reminds me of how Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）"samba de mar" from "Aventure" finishes off.

My impression of "Kiss of Fire" is that it might join Harumi Ohzora's（大空はるみ）"VIVA" and Kazuhiro Nishimatsu's（西松一博）"Bouekifu Monogatari"（貿易風物語）in that jazz cantina on Tatooine as a release celebrating that small mini-genre which brings together the old guard of jazz instruments and the new breed (at that time) of computer-run music makers. I did forget that today is indeed May 4th, aka "Star Wars" day.