Toshiki Kadomatsu -- Yokohama Twilight Time

 

Happy Friday! Ah, of course, I should say TGIF if that's still an accepted vernacular expression. Back to Yokohama again via that 2-CD "Yokohama Fantasy"（横浜幻想）compilation that I got recently. I did Disc 1 but I did leave out a few of those tracks such as a couple of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）Yokohama-based kayo so I could do those individually.

One other such song actually is available on Disc 2 that I have yet to cover but will most likely do so over this weekend. However, being a Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）song convinced me that I had to give it its own article. That would be his debut single "Yokohama Twilight Time" which was released on the first day of summer 1981. I couldn't find the original version of this on YouTube but there is an excerpt via Sony that you can take a listen to via his debut album "Sea Breeze" that came out on the same day as the single.

Instead, I've found a number of videos featuring his 20th anniversary version of "Yokohama Twilight Time" which was the coupling song to Kadomatsu's 27th single "Shinpai"（心配...Worries）. His sense of celebration wasn't lost on him since it was released on June 21st 2001, exactly 20 years since that debut single. It's that 20th anniversary version that's on Disc 2 of "Yokohama Fantasy". The single itself peaked at No. 26 on Oricon.

(from 2:29)

Because I couldn't hear the whole version of the original 1981 single, I can't give a comprehensive comparison between it and the 20th anniversary take, but my impression is that Toshiki's self-cover has got some more oomph in the horns thanks to Shin Kazuhara's（数原晋）arrangement. In either case, though, "Yokohama Twilight Time" shows that one of the big guys in City Pop/J-AOR had the summery urban contemporary DNA in him right from the get-go. 

Shin Kazuhara -- Bugler's Holiday

 

Last night, I was surprised and saddened to find out that trumpeter and arranger Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）had passed away several months ago in April 2021 at the age of 74. Apparently according to his J-Wiki article, his death was kept very quiet with one old friend only finding out when he checked at his house to see on how he was doing only to discover from a family associate that Kazuhara's relatives had already seen to his final affairs.

Kazuhara, who originally hailed from Okayama Prefecture, was someone that I found out about through my work on the blog when I realized how involved he was in the works of other singers as well as his own projects. He came up with "Samba de LOVES YOU" which seems to have become a favourite among high school bands, and then I ended up buying "Breath From The Season" (1988) by Tokyo Ensemble Lab, his own group which came up with a mix of jazz and fusion. He also helped out in Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）"Twilight Made...Hideki" album in 1985 with the brass section.

I just wanted to give my little tribute to Kazuhara to start off today's KKP articles via his April 1997 solo album "Trumpet Major". Indeed, I found this track "Bugler's Holiday" in which he plays all of the instruments including the piccolo trumpet, valve trombone and the French horn. It's quite the virtuoso performance of this 1954 song, originally by the master of light orchestral music, Leroy Anderson ("Sleigh Ride", "The Syncopated Clock"). And it has the personal connection with me since I used to listen to "Bugler's Holiday" all the time via a record when I spent my time in the junior high school library by the record player. Of course, the song was frequently used to accompany certain events during Sports Day festivities at schools in Japan.

It's sad to know that he has now joined many others in the hereafter but at the same time, Kazuhara has been able to leave us with a lot of his contributions via his trumpet and other instruments in many works.

Toshiki Kadomatsu -- Door no Mukou ~ Sayonara T ~（ドアの向こう 〜SAYONARA T〜）/We Can Dance

 

Looks my last entry for City Pop Friday is another banger and of course, it's by one of the leaders himself, Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）.

"Door no Mukou ~ Sayonara T ~" (Beyond the Door) is Kadomatsu's 10th single from November 1986, and when I was reading the article for the song on J-Wiki, I was surprised to discover that Kadomatsu had wanted to create a Mood Kayo with a touch of old soul. "Door no Mukou" is that creation. 

I think the entire song is infused with varying levels of Mood Kayo. Namely, the biggest feelings of it come in through the intro within the first 35 seconds with the languid melody and the bluesy saxophone by Jake H. Concepcion, and then there is the instrumental bridge just under the 3:00 mark with the Latin guitar by Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）. "Door no Mukou" is indeed an interesting creature with the one layer of a soulful Mood Kayo that sounds like genre groups such as Los Indios or Los Primos could have tackled it in a previous decade while the overlaying layer is pure Toshiki City Pop.

Japanese music site Music Avenue's kaz-shin has commented on the surprise and brilliance of "Door no Mukou" but I'd also like to add one thing that hadn't been observed in either the J-Wiki or Music Avenue articles. I guess that it's because of that 1970s soulfulness and the wonderful brass section arranged by Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）and Kazuo Otani's（大谷和夫）strings, but on hearing the tune a number of times, I feel that "Door no Mukou" could have been offered to The King of Love Songs himself, Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, and it would have fit him hand-in-glove.

The B-side "We Can Dance" is also another banger. This is more in the conventional Kadomatsu stream and once again, trumpeter Kazuhara has managed to whip up another tasty brass treat. kaz-shin mentions that "We Can Dance" doesn't have much of an impact but it somehow remains in the ears and mind. Yeah, as I mentioned, it's a regular Kadomatsu but even a regular Kadomatsu can still be a killer tune. Once again, I have to state that even this B-side could have been covered by another top-notch singer, the late Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）during his own City Pop phase, and in fact, Kadomatsu did provide him with a song "Through the Night" in 1984.

Also, have a look at the bottom of that J-Wiki article for "Door no Mukou" for the great musicians backing both songs up. Also, both songs hadn't been put on any album for some years until 1993, when they were included on Disc 2 of Kadomatsu's first BEST album "1981-1987" which peaked at No. 6 on Oricon.

Hideki Saijo -- Sweet Surrender

If I could do a decent Lt. Columbo impression, I would say, "May I say, sir, that is one fine album cover you have there...like I was telling Mrs. Columbo...that's my wife, you see...".

Yep, that is indeed one truly gorgeous City Pop-appropriate cover for Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）17th album from July 1985, "Twilight Made...Hideki". All those pastel blues and pinks and peaches....just have this enormous urge to wrap a fluffy pink cardigan around my waist and ask for a Perrier with a lemon twist. It would still be a challenge to tie it into a knot knowing my girth, mind you. But back to the cover, that design reminds me so much of the covers for the albums of AOR king Bobby Caldwell.

However, this is, of course, not a blog about album covers. I would like to have your attention directed to the first track, the oh-so-smooth "Sweet Surrender". The entire album has a lot of City Pop experts helping out on it (you can take a look at the credits on "Rate Your Music") but Track 1 has a couple of heavyweights behind "Sweet Surrender", Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）on lyrics (and backing chorus) and Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）providing the music which is urban and urbane and possesses some rhythmic nimbleness as if Hideki were beating traffic in the city effortlessly by driving his sports car in physics-breaking ways. Trumpeter Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）is also in on the action with the brass arrangement.

There were quite a few keyboardists involved in "Twilight Made" so I can't peg right now who was handling the keys on "Sweet Surrender", but my compliments to him especially when at certain times in the song, the synths take on that Omega Tribe arrangement. Until recently, I only knew Saijo as the long-haired 70s aidoru but with his 80s material, he seemed tailor-made for the City Pop world. OK, "Twilight Made" is going on the wish list!

Shin Kazuhara -- Samba de LOVES YOU

Hopefully, wherever you are, you have been coping with the scourge of COVID-19 as best you possibly can. I had been expecting that PM Trudeau was going to announce a lockdown of the major cities in Canada but he didn't, although the borders will be closed off to almost all non-Canadians as of Wednesday. Went to the supermarkets around my area; I've been more strategic about what to expect and what to get. I couldn't find ground beef so I got ground chicken instead and actually bought Indian naan instead of hot dog buns which were sold out in the main supermarket. I was able to get that rare thing called toilet paper and some soap later in the afternoon.

Anyways, at about this time yesterday, my anime buddy and I caught "Hibike! Euphonium ~ Chikai no Finale"（響け！ユーフォニアム～誓いのフィナーレ～...Sound! Euphonium ~ Our Promise: A Brand New Day）on Blu-Ray, the latest in the "Hibike! Euphonium" franchise of series and films about a high school band always trying to grab for that brass ring while having to deal with various issues among the members. Basically, the focus is on the main character of Kumiko Oumae who's now in the position of shepherding the new first-year students, including a polite young girl who actually has a dark streak inside of her, and in another universe, could end up as the next Catwoman if Batman actually existed in Japan. All in all, it was a good flick and not overly melodramatic as was the case with the second TV season.

As has become a "Hibike! Euphonium" tradition, the band has often come up with their own snazzy version of an oldie-but-goodie, and in "Chikai no Finale", I got to know a new tune that had originally been composed by trumpeter Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）called "Samba de LOVES YOU". In a cute little pun on "Somebody Loves You", the former leader of Tokyo Ensemble Lab has woven a fun Latin number that seems to have become a go-to piece for a lot of student orchestras from what I've seen on YouTube.

Fortunately, I could find the actual scene there for the performance of "Samba de LOVES YOU" by Kitauji High School in marching band form and it was actually performed above by the Osaka Shion Wind Orchestra as conducted by Toshio Majima（真島俊夫）.

Plus I could find it from the soundtrack at 12:19. Samba, everybody, samba!

I'd thought with all of those different renditions by student orchestras that Kazuhara had actually created "Samba de LOVES YOU" specifically for high school bands. But in point of fact, the song's origins are from a 1997 Kazuhara album titled "Trumpet Major". Regrettably, I couldn't find the full version of that original on YouTube so you'll have to settle for the brief smidgen at Amazon; just scroll down the screen to reach the playlist. You will want a tropical cocktail even after listening to those 45 seconds. In any case, the samba can now join a fusion tune and a technopop classic as something that has been given the Kitauji treatment.

SPOILER BELOW!

In a sweet coda for the movie, it looks like Oumae, the nervous high school freshman who had some major second thoughts about joining the band all the way back in Season 1, is now a confident senior who's in charge of the club. There will definitely have to be a final movie or a season now!

Tokyo Ensemble Lab -- Breath From The Season

It all seems so poignant now when I first wrote about this spectacular band called Tokyo Ensemble Lab on the first day of summer several months ago, specifically for the fusion festival that is "Lady Ocean".  My final statement for the article was that I may be doing some shopping around for the originating album "Breath From The Season".

Guess what? It's almost the first day of winter and I finally got "Breath From The Season", the 1988 inaugural album by Tokyo Ensemble Lab. Produced by Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）and band leader/trumpeter Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）, the album does fulfill the predictions that I had for it...that it would be a container of music holding the swing jazz of "Nica's Dream" and the fabulous fusion of "Lady Ocean".

Track 2 is "Junky Express ~ Geraleen". Before I go on though, I should inform you that Tokyo Ensemble Lab apparently adopted the Kadomatsu tradition of adding female monikers to each track. "Lady Ocean" was tagged with "Yuko" while "Nica's Dream" was given the name of "Mako". It almost figures like the Secret Service giving members of the President's family their code names.

Anyways, "Junky Express" is a fun Latin jazz jam with a soupcon of synthpop added. I hear it as a prototype for the whole Electro Swing thing that popped up earlier this decade. Also, being a fan of these guys, I got reminded of some of the Manhattan Transfer's forays into Latin jazz.

"Nobody Can Do It ~ Aishuu no Nini"（哀愁のニニ...Grief-Stricken at 22[?]）has been tagged with "Kaoru". By the sounds of it, Kaoru must be a statuesque, beautiful, and most likely, a lonely lady in the big city. Kazuhara composed the track and is the lead trumpeter. The song weaves between that noble high-in-the-sky trumpet solo and some downtown action in what must be some dramatic story for the lass.

Then, there is "Blue Skies ~ Kana". Yep, it is indeed the Irving Berlin classic but it's book-ended by the Lab's own big band riffs. However, the familiar melody of "Blue Skies" does fly in on the trombones though mixed in with a bit of "In The Mood", and the whole thing again has that Electro Swing feeling and even some Matt Bianco. It's basically one fun jam session for Kazuhara and the guys.

My last song for this article is "Morning After Lady ~ Shizuyo", a soulful number written by James B. Pentaudi with Kadomatsu coming up with the music. It's a power ballad performed by LeMel Humes that has me reminiscing about my radio and university days. Nice to hear this arrangement again after so long, and it is a fine tune to wake up to...but perhaps the volume can be lowered a bit if you want to do so. :)

Tokyo Ensemble Lab -- Nica's Dream

After first listening to Tokyo Ensemble Lab's fabulous fusion of "Lady Ocean" from their 1988 album "Breath From The Season", I then listened to one more track from the album, their version of the jazz standard "Nica's Dream". I was frankly flabbergasted.

Tokyo Ensemble Lab, led by trumpeter Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）, couldn't have sounded more different. The fusion of "Lady Ocean" gave way to the swing jazz of "Nica's Dream". And the jazz couldn't have been more percolating! From the hot summer day on the beach to the cool lounge in Aoyama. The experience of listening to these two tracks had me thinking of Tokyo Ensemble Lab as a Japanese instrumental version of the Manhattan Transfer.

"Nica's Dream" is over 7 minutes of a high-energy jazz buffet with all of the instruments getting their chance to shine in the spotlight. If anyone asks me why I like big band swing, I will simply let them listen to this. Although I didn't see any comments from the anime crowd under the YouTube video, I'm pretty sure that comparisons with "Tank!" from "Cowboy Be-Bop" that came out a decade later may be inevitable. Strangely enough, leader Kazuhara, has taken part in his fair share of anime themes through Yuji Ohno's（大野雄二）and Joe Hisaishi's（久石譲）works.

According to Wikipedia's entry for the song, "Nica's Dream" was originally composed by Horace Silver and named for one of the big patrons for bebop music, Pannonica de Koenigswarter. The above is the 1956 version performed by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

Tokyo Ensemble Lab -- Lady Ocean

Yes, indeed, welcome to summer! It wasn't too hot here, though...just around 23 degrees for a high today but there are 89 more days to go in the season.

Considering it is the first day of summer, I couldn't have found a better song to start things off, and again, it was all thanks to the usual browsing around YouTube. Just saw this video on the right that was recommended with the name Tokyo Ensemble Lab, and since I've had great success with Tomita Lab（富田ラボ）, I decided to give it a try.

Well, lightning did strike twice. Tokyo Ensemble Lab's lone single "Lady Ocean" is fabulous fusion. It was released in June 1988 and was performed by this group of musicians led by trumpeter Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）. I can't pinpoint specifics since I'm no musicologist but this is the one 80s summer instrumental that just represents the times. It's just so bright and brassy and summery, and probably reflects all those Bubble good times in Japan by the beach. The video could almost be the opening credits for a detective show in Hawaii like "Magnum P.I." or "Hawaii Five-0". And as the actual credits say at the end, Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）, one summery guy himself, handled the music and arrangements. As one fellow put it as a comment, Vaporwave enthusiasts probably swooned.

Tokyo Ensemble Lab had their time in the sun between 1988 and 1992. Along with their single, there were two albums "Breath From The Season" (1988) and "Sidewinder" (1992) of which the former included "Lady Ocean". Incidentally, one of the saxophone players is Makoto Hirahara（平原まこと）who is the father of singer-songwriter Ayaka Hirahara（平原綾香）.

May be going shopping again pretty soon.