Yuki Kato -- Black Jack

Scott Nazelrod via Wikimedia Commons

 

Yep, as a high schooler, three of my high school friends and I played gin, poker and blackjack for penny ante stuff. I don't recall making it big even with the chips and pennies...which has also informed my luck on lotteries.

Strangely enough, I find this "Black Jack" a whole lot more soul-satisfying. Sung by Yuki Kato（加藤有紀）, for one thing, it's got a great rumble of a rhythm...like taking a good ol' strut around Shinjuku or Roppongi. This was a 1983 single for the singer although I'm not sure whether it preceded or followed her other single "Nazo wa To-ka-na-i-de"（謎はと・か・な・い・で）from that same year. For some reason, there's also something oddly 60s about "Black Jack", as if a potential protagonist could be an adventurous spy who doesn't take himself too seriously like Matt Helm or Derek Flint. Well, Las Vegas had quite the scene back in that decade.

Kato herself was responsible for the lyrics which she delivers in quite the coquettish purr. Meanwhile, Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常弘）took care of the cool City Pop melody. And according to Hip Tank Records, the fusion band Parachute was backing Kato up in the recording booth.

Parachute -- Cocktail Night

For those who have encountered some of my statements on drinking within the articles here and there, I think you'll already know that I've had a certain sweet tooth for the sweeter cocktails. The Brown Cow is my go-to cocktail but at various bars here and in Japan, I've also enjoyed the sugar-filled delights of a Creamsicle and an Irish Coffee. There are also the bartenders' own creations such as this libation called the Cherry Blossom that I drank at Kintaro (as shown above), one of the newer izakaya in downtown Toronto, back last year during the Holidays.

(19:40)

It appears that the good folks in the J-fusion group Parachute have also enjoyed their own mixological concoctions, and indeed the star-laden lineup including Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）, Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉美） and Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹） all get in their own favourites through the song "Cocktail Night". Cocktails such as the Tequila Sunrise, the Vodka Collins and the Blue Hawaii all get their due in this light and frothy tune written and composed by keyboardist Ando.

"Cocktail Night" was included in Parachute's 1981 album "HAERE MAI", and there is something quite Margaritaville in the shaker here. Although I have yet to set foot in any drinking establishment since this pandemic began, I'm hoping that I will get my old cocktail in a bar again in the not-too-distant future. Have a listen to their "Hercules" as well.

Parachute -- Hercules

Parachute is another Japanese fusion band find after getting to know other similar units such as Casiopeia and The Square.

Formed in 1979, it had the intriguing catchphrase of "Music is sport". Whether or not Parachute members were trying to spark a competitive rivalry with the other two bands is unclear but what is certain to me is the fame of the members. As I scrolled down the J-Wiki article on the band, I realized that there were some big names in the original lineup: drummer Tatsuo Hayashi（林立夫）, percussionist Nobu Saito（斉藤ノヴ）, New Zealand bassist Mike Dunn, guitarists Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）and Tsuyoshi Kon（今剛）, and keyboardists Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）and Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉美）, almost all of whom have been mentioned in the blog and a few of whom even have their own articles. Kobayashi left after Parachute's 1980 2nd album "6 kinds 6 sizes" but was officially replaced with Akira Inoue（井上鑑）after his guest status on that release.

Speaking of "6 kinds 6 sizes", the first Parachute article I bring to you from that album is "Hercules". It starts off sounding quite Supertramp-ish before the music gets into the familiar zone inhabited by The Square especially. Referring back to that catchphrase, "Hercules" then sounds like something that probably would have been at home as background music during a Japanese sports broadcast, a la The Square.

Parachute released 6 albums in the early half of the 1980s and probably after that, everyone decided to go their separate solo ways. However, there was a DVD released in 2015 to celebrate the band's 35th anniversary.