01. Who Cares 5:55 02. Sometime Ago 6:45 03. Deep In My Thought 6:09 04. In A Little Spring Waltz 5:20 05. Green Dolphin Street 2:56 06. Blues For Andrew 8:47
Who cares? We care! And it's hard not to – given the strength of this sweet little set from Japanese bassist Takashi Mizuhashi – a hell of a player who really knows how to keep things exciting throughout! The group's got some tremendous talent in the front – both Fumio Karashima on piano and Yoshio Otomo on alto and soprano sax – each players who get plenty of time in the spotlight, driven onto heights by Mizuhashi's bass – but sometimes in a very subtle way, too. Karashima plays Fender Rhodes a bit – which we really love for his spacious handling of the keys – and Takashi sometimes bows the bass in a way that makes for these really magical sound next to the Rhodes. The set's definitely on the more soulful side of the Japanese jazz spectrum from the 70s
01. When A Man Loves A Woman 11:49 02. So What 15:12 03. Sugar 18:26
Alto Saxophone – Yoshio Otomo Bass – Takashi Mizuhashi Drums – Hideo Sekine Piano – Fumio Karashima + Tenor Saxophone – Seiichi Nakamura (tracks: side B) Trombone – Shigeharu Mukai (tracks: side B)
Recorded on Nihon Tohsi Center Hall on March. 23 & 26, 1974
A mighty soulful set from the group of bassist Takahashi Mizuhashi – served up in a really strong range of sounds that are spun out over the album's very long tracks! The set begins with a soulful rendition of "When A Man Loves A Woman", but then soars into freer jazz territory at the start of "So What" – which begins with one of the most outside readings of the Miles Davis classic we've ever heard! The album really sparkles – thanks to some strong work on alto from Yoshio Otomo, and piano from the great Fumio Karashima – and side two features guest trombone from Shigeharu Mukai and tenor from Seiichi Nakamura – who really help things stretch out on an 18 minute take on Stanley Turrentine's classic "Sugar".
