Katsuji Amazaki -- Blue Ocean

 

Ah, yes. The above is a view from the top deck of the Harmony of the Seas on the morning of Day 2 of our cruise a few years ago. I took it while we were on our way to the Windjammer for breakfast. Turkey bacon wasn't one of my favourite items on the buffet but everything else was fine and dandy in double quantities.

I thought for a photo like that, a record such as "Morning Breeze" by guitarist Katsuji Amazaki（尼崎勝司）would be just the thing. This was released back in 1983 as this AOR album and it was a bit difficult tracking down any information on Amazaki. 

However, I actually found the guitarist Amazaki through a J-Wiki article about Sound Space（サウンド・スペース）, a folk/rock duo that consisted of him and pianist Tetsu Ueno（上野哲）. Performing for only a year between 1975 and 1976, Sound Space put out one single and one album. That album, "Kagami no Naka no Shouzou"（鏡の中の肖像...The Portrait in the Mirror）, was released in September 1975 and supposedly it's the first album in Japan to have introduced synthesizers in a recording. I would actually like to know that if this is indeed true from any of the Yellow Magic Orchestra or Isao Tomita（冨田勲）fans out there.

But in any case, there is Amazaki's solo 1983 album "Morning Breeze", and the first track is "Blue Ocean". I certainly got those rich Corinthian leather vibes from Amazaki's guitar playing as the song starts with the familiar Fender Rhodes and some cutting disco strings, and maybe it's a tad dramatic to hear over breakfast at the Windjammer but it's still a nice morning instrumental to hear as an aural digestif. According to JASRAC, Amazaki and Katsuhiko Sasaki（佐々木勝彦）were responsible for the creation of "Blue Ocean".