Nippon Columbia Japan レコード& CD

Review: Originally released in 1969, Exciting Drums African Rock Party is the first album from Akira Ishikawa under his Count Buffalo alias. It's a wide-ranging affair which includes covers of contemporary standards such as 'You Keep Me Hanging On', 'Back In The U.S.S.R.' and 'Soul Limbo', all given a bold and brassy jazz revision by Ishikawa's band, which included Hiromasa Suzuki on piano, Masaoki Terakawa on bass and Takeru Muraoka on tenor sax. This is the first time it's been repressed since its release, so you can expect all Japanese jazz aficionados to be jumping on this one quickly.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Originally released in 1969, Exciting Drums African Rock Party is the first album from Akira Ishikawa under his Count Buffalo alias. It's a wide-ranging affair which includes covers of contemporary standards such as 'You Keep Me Hanging On', 'Back In The U.S.S.R.' and 'Soul Limbo', all given a bold and brassy jazz revision by Ishikawa's band, which included Hiromasa Suzuki on piano, Masaoki Terakawa on bass and Takeru Muraoka on tenor sax. This is the first time it's been repressed since its release, so you can expect all Japanese jazz aficionados to be jumping on this one quickly.

Review: Hi-Phonic Big 15's Hi-Phonics Hi-Phonics album is a real curio from 1979 that deep diggers have long fawned over. It is the only album from this outfit and it was once reissued on CD in 2004 but never before on vinyl. Musically it blends reggae, soul and jazz-funk into gloriously musical tracks with lavish arrangements and a golden soul for late-night lounge spaces. At times romantic, at others playful, it's as likely to be heard at a sundown session on the beach in Ibiza as it is at a listening bar in London or a street party in Leeds.

Review: Fresh reissued magic of Funky Stuff, formerly a rare exquisite by jazzmaster Jiro Inagaki, originally released in 1975. An enduring, pioneering fusion of jazz, funk, soul and rock - with influences from Herbie Hancock, James Brown and Santana - the album features some of the best and most acclaimed Japanese musicians of the time, enlisting the talent-wares of Hiromasa Suzuki on keyboards, Akira Ishikawa on drums and Takeru Muraoka on sax. Now on a unique clear pink vinyl, it too could be yours.

Review: Memory Lane was the last album recorded by Jiro Inagaki's Soul Media band back in 1980. It's a bubbly slice of disco-fied jazz funk with big, catchy vocal tracks like 'Take My Hand' and some exquisite instrumental wig outs to boot. If you enjoy your jazz funk with splashes of early 80s studio shimmer then look no further than the fluid finesse of 'Double Images'. The album has never been repressed since its original release, so now is the time with Nippon Columbia doing the honours and gifting us a pristine new edition of this period classic.

Review: Shigeru Suzuki has been involved with plenty of cult, hard-to-find albums from Band Wagon to Pacific and they have all been reissued of late. Next up is Reservation Calendar alongside Sunset Hills Hotel, another glorious synth work that transports you to a place of pure and clean musical bliss in an instant, as does so much jazz from the Far East. This record takes in mellifluous downbeat pieces like 'Silver Snow Shining' as well as lovably kitsch 80s tunes like 'April First' and the more introspective sounds of 'November Eyes' with its lush tropical percussion and yawning soft rock riffs.

Review: Hitomi Toyama's 'Sweet Soul Music' originally made it to wax last year, when the track appeared as part of a rare Japanese funk compilation curated by the sound's brightest stars, Wamono. Now, though, it gets a proper release on 7", and is backended by the sultry B-side 'Wanna Kiss', which sounds pitched up and chirpy in its shrill alto vocals, which assure us we're held. The A, meanwhile, is as horny (in both senses of the word) as ever, quite obviously singing the praises of "sweet soul music... I love you!"