Mikio Masuda -- All About You

by WFan from Wikimedia Commons

Well, we did get a light brushing of snow this morning although so far it's nowhere near those four inches that had been forecast yesterday. However, the day is still young; we'll have to see what more comes down by tonight.

Earlier this year, I posted an article regarding a track, the frenetic "Sonic Barrier", from musician Mikio Masuda's（益田幹夫）1980 album "Silver Shadow". This time, I've got a far more relaxing track from the same album titled "All About You". This time, it mixes the fusion with blues and it has that feeling of contemplation or gratitude for that special someone. I don't think the title "All About You" sounds anything like an admonition as the phrase that has been used like "Oh, it's always all about you, ain't it?". Considering the weather outside my window today, "All About You" seems perfect but what might make it even better is just having that quiet cafe conversation as this is playing.

Now, as for the reason that I've put up WFan's glorious photo of those West Shinjuku buildings, I've enjoyed the cover of "Silver Shadow" for its shot of fog-shrouded towers west of Shinjuku Station, buildings that I think still exist despite all of the renovation taking place at the station itself. Tokyo has some very photogenic areas but West Shinjuku will always remain one of my favourites.

Mikio Masuda -- Sonic Barrier

 

Welcome once again to Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP. First off, I have to give my kudos to the photographer behind the album cover for keyboardist Mikio Masuda's（益田幹夫）1980 album "Silver Shadow". I will always love shots of the skyscrapers of West Shinjuku, and they take on a new look in that fogginess behind the beaming Masuda himself.

One track on "Silver Shadow" is the manic "Sonic Barrier" which for some reason sounds like something Santana would create and play. It does sound as if a newly-created jet fighter were trying to break Mach 1. For that matter, some of that guitar and chorus work near the end had me even thinking of some of those SHOGUN arrangements. Give thanks to the vocal chorus group Freezer along with Masuda on the keyboards and Kenji Takamizu（高水健司）on bass.

Mikio Masuda -- Walkin' In The City

 

Had a good lunch with Larry, fellow blog contributor, earlier today and combined with that sumptuous sushi and then the steak later on for dinner, my gastrointestinal system is working overtime so I'm feeling very sluggish. In fact, I should be looking very much like a slug right now. In any event, I need some aural cappuccino at this moment.

Luckily, this is urban contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so I was able to track down pianist Mikio Masuda's（益田幹夫）"Walkin' In The City" which is what I should have been doing to get rid of the grogginess. This is a track off of his 1982 "Chi Chi" album, and it's a good ol' instrumental funky strut through Tokyo. I am moving my body as I listen to Masuda and his band work out their systems; hopefully, I can spend several calories on a few repeat listenings to "Walkin' In The City".

One thing that I have missed about my old stomping grounds of Tokyo is that I was able to walk through a lot of the megalopolis. Although I didn't go too crazy during the torrid summers, during all other seasons, it was very pleasant strolling on the streets through areas such as Aoyama-Itchome above in the photo.

Mikio Masuda & Mariko Hiraga -- Urban Night

 

Less than half an hour ago, this particular video which was uploaded back in 2017 managed to find itself onto the default YouTube page that shows up whenever I hit the platform. It happens to be fashion designer Tom Ford's six rules of style. Y'know...I do agree that every person should have a sharp black suit in the wardrobe for that special occasion; in my case, though, those special occasions haven't come to me for the past two decades. Still, it seems as if a lot of the comments have been about the hypnotic effect that Ford's voiceover has on them. Maybe Ford should have also provided a video on his own rules of voice technique.

But seeing that Tom Ford video made me search within my ever-growing backlog to find a song that would fit the atmosphere and ambience that video offered me. It took a while but I was able to track down a number that was suitably stylish, urban and urbane. This is "Urban Night" performed by the duet of jazz pianist and composer Mikio Masuda（益田幹夫）and jazz singer Mariko Hiraga（平賀真理子）. Coming from their 1984 album "Twilight" as the opening track, this is the type of tune that would have you and your significant other put on the good clothes and head out for a night out to a restaurant on the rooftop of some famous skyscraper downtown. Of course, by all means, please follow Ford's six rules (well, the one about dousing yourself in scent I don't quite agree with).

As I mentioned in my first article for Masuda on KKP, he's a hard fellow to find information on, but Hiraga's profile doesn't even seem to exist in the pages that I could find aside from the fact that she is a jazz singer. I actually had to find even that smidgen of data on a Japanese site dedicated to session guitarists. By the way, the lyrics were provided by Tommy Snyder from the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）.

Now if you'll excuse me, Mr. Ford's voice is compelling me to purchase a tuxedo for no reason.

Mikio Masuda -- One for Lucia

It's been a warm and dry day today in Toronto. I met up with a couple of old friends for some brunch down on The Danforth earlier this morning and given the choice of going for the outdoor patio and keeping things inside, one of them quickly let everyone know that he wanted to dine in air-conditioned comfort. Both he and I can then sympathize with my friends over in the Tokyo area. Yesterday, knowing what the weather is like over there, I sent my good wishes to them over social media and hoped that they were keeping cool. The response has been pretty big that it's been a struggle, and from my experience, there could be several more weeks of the sultry stuff.

When the low temperature in summer in the big city in the wee hours is usually around 26 to 28 degrees Celsius, yeah, I could say that it's a smokin' night. Speaking of that, I've got another track from the Mikio Masuda（益田幹夫）collection via the jazz pianist's album "Smokin' Night" (1987). To add onto his "Romantic Rain" that I wrote about last year, this is the first track, "One for Lucia".

Soothing and perhaps even cooling like a Japanese summer wind chime, it may not have as great as an effect as a stiff breeze coming in through the house, but it's pretty nice to hear while sipping down that glass of ice water...or something stronger. For today's brunch, I just kept things to multiple cups of coffee.

Mikio Masuda -- Romantic Rain

As I type this, the ceiling lights in my room have burned out so I'm left with just the lamp on the filing cabinet providing me with illumination enough so that I'm not destroying my eyes from just viewing the computer screen. However, the atmosphere created is quite pleasant for some nighttime jazz. I only wish that I had made myself a cup of coffee.

So, on this Sunday night before the work week starts up again, I give you the mellow-as-a-glass-of-Bailey's Irish Creme "Romantic Rain" from jazz pianist Mikio Masuda（益田幹夫）. This track comes from his 1987 album "Smokin' Night", and it's a very comfy number with his group as if you're listening to it in the close confines of a jazz bar while the weather outside is spitting the titular precipitation. What I like about it is that "Romantic Rain" is rather reminiscent of what I remember from the late great pianist Vince Guaraldi who came up with all those wonderful melodies for the various "Peanuts" specials on TV.

I couldn't find any information on Wikipedia or J-Wiki on Masuda, and in fact, I had to use Google Translate to translate the German Wikipedia which did have an article on the musician. From what I could find is that he may be a hard-working genius since he largely taught himself how to play not only the piano but also the bass. According to his discography shown at Discogs, he's been releasing albums since 1974.