Tetsuo Sakurai -- Wonderland in the Sky

 

When I knew that I was going to do this article, I couldn't help but going to Bing once more to see if I could concoct up something that would be reminiscent of Cloud City on Bespin or that other city in the clouds from the "Star Trek" episode "The Cloud Minders". Well, it's not too, too bad.

It's been six months since I last posted something on bassist Tetsuo Sakurai（櫻井哲夫）, and up to now, his music has all been from his 1986 solo debut album "Dewdrops?". Not that "Dewdrops?" is a bad thing by any means, but I had been wondering about some other aspects of his discography. Fortunately, I was able to find his 2001 album "Gentle Hearts", and yep, it is indeed quite the temporal leap ahead.

One track on the album is "Wonderland in the Sky" which is one mighty dance across the atmosphere, powered by the electric guitar of Greg Howe and the drums of Dennis Chambers. The 7 1/2 minutes don't let up for a moment and it really feels like one is getting the tour of a lifetime on Bespin via one of those skypods. You might say that the skypod is fusion-powered...ha ha.

Tetsuo Sakurai -- In the Distance

 

From tomorrow, a good friend of mine will be experiencing what probably will be one of the biggest highlights in his professional life. Even from before the pandemic, he and others had been planning this huge Japanese-English translators' conference to be held in downtown Toronto and finally as of this weekend, everything will be coming into fruition. All success to him. As the Klingons would say: QA'PLA!

What can I say about this song which happens to be the second track in Casiopea bassist Tetsuo Sakurai's（櫻井哲夫）1986 debut album "Dewdrops"? "In the Distance" is quite the wondrous thing swirling together all of these genres: boogie, City Pop, bossa nova and jazz. At this point, all of the KKP entries on Sakurai have centered on the tracks within "Dewdrops", and it's no wonder, it just seems like this quiet masterpiece of an album.

As I said, the bossa is there but then we listeners also get this boogie shuffle beat accompanied by an organ which reminds me of the arrangement in Donald Fagen's "Walk Between Raindrops", the final track on another legendary album "The Nightfly" from 1982. Last but not least, the smooth vocals of Kyosuke Kusunoki（楠木恭介）that I remember from his own wonderful album "Just Tonight" groovily caress the whole she-bang. By this point, though, Kusunoki had already changed his first name to Yukoh（楠木勇有行）. The music was provided by Sakurai with arrangement by him and Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）while the lyrics were written by Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）. If you have a chance, you can give the first track "Refresh!" a try as well.

Tetsuo Sakurai -- Refresh!

 

Happy Hot Monday! Well, it's evident that summer is not done with us yet because we may be seeing the old Humidex reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit any minute now. Can really do with something refreshing like the above can of Max Coffee that I bought in Shin-Okubo, Tokyo back in October 2017. Mind you, the sugar would knock me back to last week.

So, this would be the ideal time and place to show off "Refresh!" by Casiopea（カシオペア）bassist Tetsuro Sakurai（櫻井哲夫）via his debut solo album "Dewdrops" from 1986. Earlier this year, I introduced the final track "Prophet Voyager" and was surprised that it was indeed the final track since it was simply a big fun jam session. I was then intrigued about what the rest of "Dewdrops" sounded like.

Perhaps then it's with some logic that I tackle "Refresh!" since it's the track that launches everything. Instead of the instrumental of "Prophet Voyager", Track No. 1 has lyrics by Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）joining Sakurai's composition of hot and peppery Brazilian that can get any couch potato off their keester. The percussion is just out of this world...thank you, Motoya Hamaguchi（浜口茂外也）! Sakurai is joined on vocals by Kazuo Horiguchi（堀口和男）, Marvin Baker and the late Cindy. The bassist and Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）helped arrange everything. Definitely a nice way to start off an album...and a week.

Tetsuo Sakurai -- Prophet Voyager

 

Tetsuo Sakurai（櫻井哲夫）was the first bassist for the fusion band Casiopea（カシオペア）and his time ran from 1976 to around 1989, and one of the songs that I remember from Sakurai and the guys was their 1979 cover of "I Love New York".

I gather then that Sakurai kept his New York state of mind when he came up with his first solo album, "Dewdrops" (1986). It's quite a nature-sounding title but the cover has that sky-high view of Manhattan with a dapper Sakurai running out to meet us. Back in those days when it came to having an album with an urban contemporary theme in Japan, I guess, having the Big Apple in the background was never a bad thing. Have a look at Tadao Inoue's（井上忠夫）"Nijuu-ni Shoku no Shuumatsu"（22色の週末）, for instance.

Anyways, "Prophet Voyager" was the last track on "Dewdrops", and I just kinda went "This was the last track?!"; I could only imagine what the rest of the album is like. Usually I expect a slow ballad or a mid-tempo tune to finish an album off, but "Prophet Voyager" (sounds like a military operation) is more than six minutes of high-energy jamming starting with Sakurai's beefy bass and then having some horns and an electric guitar getting in on the action.

According to the Tower Records blurb on "Dewdrops", guitarist and singer Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）was involved in the album, so it could have been him. Sakurai was also joined by other City Pop lights such as Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）, Akira Inoue（井上鑑）and Cindy, so there is some temptation to find out what the rest of "Dewdrops" sounds like.