Akira Miyazawa Yamame

🗻 SOUND FUJI / KING Jazz RE:Generation album! 🎣
Selected by Yusuke Ogawa (Universounds). High quality download available for the first time.
- Artist: Akira Miyazawa
- Title: Yamame
- Label: King Records
- Original release year: 1962
- Original catalog number: KC 20
Jazz saxophonist Akira Miyazawa was known for his unparalleled love of fishing, and here he gives a masterful performance that conjures the image of silvery fish scales reflecting light through the cold and clear water of a small mountain stream. “Yamame” (the Japanese name for a kind of freshwater salmon) was recorded in 1962 and was Miyazawa’s first album, but the sharpness and avant-garde modernity of the music creates a completely timeless quality. Miyazawa is one of a group of musicians who laid the foundation of the Japanese jazz scene. He wanted to express his cultural heritage by doing something he felt “only someone Japanese” could do, and so he dedicated himself to a pursuit of “Japanese jazz”. Incidentally, the album was originally simply titled “Akira Miyazawa”, but perhaps due to the impression the cover art and the track titles made, it was reissued in 1977 as “Yamame”, and has gone by that title ever since. This is an historic masterpiece of Japanese jazz.
Find the "Yamame" track on vinyl on the WaJazz: Japanese Jazz Spectacle Vol​.​II - Deep, Heavy and Beautiful Jazz from Japan 1962​-​1985 - The King Records Masters compilation at wajazz.bandcamp.com/album/wajazz-japanese-jazz-spectacle-vol-ii-deep-heavy-and-beautiful-jazz-from-japan-1962-1985-the-king-records-masters-selected-by-yusuke-ogawa-universounds !
Recorded May 7, 14, 1962 at Nippon Toshi-Center Hall, Tokyo.
Tenor Saxophone – Akira Miyazawa
Alto Saxophone, Flute – Sadao Watanabe (tracks: B1 to B3)
Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet – Tadayuki Harada (tracks: B1 to B3)
Trombone – Mitsuhiko Matsumoto (tracks: B1 to B3), Yasuhiro Tomoto (tracks: B1 to B3)
Trumpet – Akira Nakano (tracks: B1 to B3)
Piano – Masahiko Sato
Bass – Masanaga Harada
Bass Trombone – Takeshi Aoki (tracks: B1 to B3)
Drums – Kanji Harada, Takeshi Inomata
Supervised By – Jiro Kubota
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SOUND FUJI explores King Records' legendary catalog and unearths exceptional, rare and unknown musical gems from Japan. King Records has been releasing music since 1931. Follow 180g-soundfuji.bandcamp.com for weekly updates and amazing music discoveries, and dig into the archives of one of the most prestigious labels in Japan!
KING Jazz RE:Generation is a series of digital compilations and albums exploring King Records' prestigious jazz catalog, carefully selected by Japanese jazz expert Yusuke Ogawa.
Yusuke Ogawa has been running the Universounds store in Tokyo since 2001, specializing in jazz and second-hand, rare, and collector records. He is also a reissue supervisor, label manager, DJ, and music writer. Known for his vast musical knowledge, eye for detail, and archival skills, Ogawa has worked on more than 250 reissues and compilations – including the highly praised Deep Jazz Reality and Project Re:Vinyl series. He is the co-author of the Wa-Jazz Disc Guide and the Independent Black Jazz of America books.
Enjoy!