Tomoko Soryo -- Whisky Lullaby（ウイスキー・ララバイ）

 

Though I've yet to garner my own copy of Tomoko Soryo's（惣領智子）1977 "City Lights by the Moonlight" as one  of the albums for City Pop, I've managed to write up on at least a few of the tracks over the years. The last one from that release I wrote about was "Mezamashi Dokei"（めざまし時計）back in 2023.

However, I've come across another track which has a very different bent although I think jazz is included under that City Pop or New Music umbrella. Starting with the clinking of tumblers and ice, her "Whisky Lullaby" is something reflective of jazz from a century ago with a swinging clarinetist leading the way like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. This track doesn't herald sake or shochu; it's more Old Parr or Suntory Tris in a very oaken bar. Soryo's husband at the time, Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）, was the composer and arranger here while Kyozo Nishioka（西岡恭三）and his wife Kuro were the lyricists.