Naoya Matsuoka -- Touch The New York Pink

Since I got on the New York kick with Terumasa Hino's（日野皓正）"High Tide-Manhattan Ecstasy" for my last article, I've decided to showcase another musical love letter to The Big Apple by another Japanese jazz artist. I'd even bookmarked it earlier.

The reason is that at the time a few weeks ago, I was writing about "Lovin' Mighty Fire" from 1979, a feisty collaboration between Latin jazz musician Naoya Matsuoka（松岡直也）and R&B queen Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）. Then I discovered this video for the song "Touch The New York Pink" by Matsuoka which came out a few years later in October 1982 as the launching track on his album "Fall on the Avenue".

Indeed that is some love and mighty fire bursting out with the boppy bass followed by some jaunty romantic piano by Matsuoka. The first time I heard "Touch The New York Pink", I got those shivers going up and down my spine, always a good sign in my case as the artist rolled up and down smoothly with his keyboards and the accompanying percussion. There's Hino's adventurous funk n' jazz with "High Tide-Manhattan Ecstasy" and then there is the party atmosphere of Matsuoka's first track on "Fall on the Avenue". Can't dance worth an extinct Canadian penny anymore (if I ever did) but this song can probably effect miracles.