Ryojiro Furusawa - 1976 - You Wanna Rain

Ryojiro Furusawa

1976

You Wanna Rain

01. Acoustic Chicken 

02. Snake Walk 

03. Yellow Cherry 

04. You Wanna Rain? 

05. For Heavens Sake

Bass – Mochizuki Hideaki

Drums – Furusawa Ryojiro

Piano, Electric Piano – Daitoku Toshiyuki

Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Takahashi Tomoki

Trombone – Mukai Shigeharu

Searing, soulful energy from this overlooked Japanese combo of the 70s – a crack quartet led by drummer Ryojiro Furusawa, working here with some great guest work on trombone from Shigeharu Mukai! The tunes are often very simple, but with a groove that's totally great – a bit of a modal vibe at times, and some spiritual jazz undercurrents at others – really making the record feel like some lost Strata East album, thanks to electric piano lines from Toshiyuki Daitoku and some tenor and soprano sax from Tomoki Takahashi. Most tunes are long, and very openly grooving

A great release featuring exciting post-bop and modal explorations by a really skilled ensemble. The mellow and warm classic "For Heavens Sake" closes the album with a fitting homage and some truly smooth grooves. A must have for J Jazz lovers.