Masami Urabe -- Kanashimi yo Chotto Doite Kudasai（悲しみよ ちょっと どいてちょうだい）

 

I'm not sure about this, but along with the trendy inclusion of 50s rock-and-roll into Japanese pop music in the late 1970s going into the early 1980s, I also wonder whether good old-fashioned jazz was also making it into the mix. I distinctly remember a few songs such as "Jazz Singer" which was first sung by its creator Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）and then covered in a torch song style by Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）way back when.

Then, we have Masami Urabe（うらべまさみ）, a recent discovery by myself, who has been up for a number of genres. For the title track of her 1982 album "Kanashimi yo Chotto Doite Kudasai" (Hey Sadness, Down in Front), we've got something that sounds as if it should have been created some sixty years beforehand. Written by Hiroyuki Sumino（住野裕之）and composed by Yoshinori Yonehama（よねはまよしのり）, this is a cheery and bluesy honky-tonk jazz number that would be perfect in a smoky speakeasy while Urabe up on the tiny stage and under a piercing spotlight sings openly to chase those blues away. My previous song regarding Urabe, "Tomadoi"（とまどい）, is also included on the album.