Heck of a time for me to put up another J-Xmas tune just when we are finally coming out of winter's long shadow. But to be honest, I'd made some wrong assumptions about this one and the singer behind it.
For instance, when you hear the name Ohashi Trio（大橋トリオ）, what do you think? Well, if you're like me, you would have assumed that this was a jazz group of some sort. However, Ohashi Trio is just a group of one...namely singer-songwriter and multi-instrumental musician Yoshinori Ohashi（大橋好規）of Chiba Prefecture. Furthermore, Ohashi's delivery of his "Love The Season" has that soft low burr which reminds me of jazz legend Chet Baker, but then again, though this jaunty tune has a rollicking piano moving things along, it's not a jazz tune. In fact, I had put "Love The Season" into the backlog months ago, so on seeing the title again, I'd made the mistake of thinking that this was something about celebrating the summer when actually, it's all about celebrating the Yuletide. That arrangement of Ohashi's melody hides the fact that Joshua Katris' lyrics are plainly talking about Xmas.
"Love The Season" comes from his November 2013 album "Magic" which is indeed a Xmas-themed release. Beginning his career in 2003, Ohashi has released "...eighteen studio albums, seven singles and composed for multiple films", according to his Wikipedia entry.
"Magic" is one of my favorite Christmas albums (not just J-X'mas albums) of the past ten years. I got it because I thought the cover was amusing and was astonished by how fantastic it was. There's not a bad track on the album.
ReplyDeleteHi, Scott. Thanks for your comments. Those are high words indeed for "Magic", especially from someone who specializes in J-Xmas music! I'll have to see about putting that on the Xmas wish list later this year.
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