Tee & Company recommendations? Japanese

[felser]

Remember hearing a cut by this Japanese group on an anthology and liking it a lot.  See that CDJapan has three reissues by them coming out at reasonable prices:  'Sonet', 'Dragon Garden', and 'Spanish Flower'.  Anyone familiar with these albums, and if so, can you describe them and let me know if you recommend them?  Thx.

[Rabshakeh]

11 hours ago, felser said:

Remember hearing a cut by this Japanese group on an anthology and liking it a lot.  See that CDJapan has three reissues by them coming out at reasonable prices:  'Sonet', 'Dragon Garden', and 'Spanish Flower'.  Anyone familiar with these albums, and if so, can you describe them and let me know if you recommend them?  Thx.

I only know Sonnet and Spanish Flower, which I enjoyed without necessarily falling in love.

Like many other Three Blind Mice records, they are on the borderline between electric post bop and fusion. The group had Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar, which is less explosive than you'd expect in the circumstances, although his playing is unusual. The bass playing sometimes gives the group a slightly more prog rock sound than some other Japanese groups in the fusion-ish space from the time, which I confess to not really enjoying.

My view is that they are good records, but, given how fertile the Japanese scene was at that time, not necessarily stand outs.

I've been listening to a lot of records from this era recently, and had been thinking of starting a thread when I get the time. There's such an embarrassment of riches there.

[Mori]

I have these three albums and enjoy them, though they are not particularly ground breaking. There's a bit of early Return to Forever, maybe some Silent Way influences, plenty of electric piano. This was not a working group, but a few sessions featuring musicians associated with Three Blind Mice label, done as a tribute to the boss, Takeshi Fujii, aka Mr. Tee. Percussionist Yuji Imamura and bassist Nobuyoshi Ino are still active now.

[felser]

3 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

I only know Sonnet and Spanish Flower, which I enjoyed without necessarily falling in love.

Like many other Three Blind Mice records, they are on the borderline between electric post bop and fusion. The group had Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar, which is less explosive than you'd expect in the circumstances, although his playing is unusual. The bass playing sometimes gives the group a slightly more prog rock sound than some other Japanese groups in the fusion-ish space from the time, which I confess to not really enjoying.

My view is that they are good records, but, given how fertile the Japanese scene was at that time, not necessarily stand outs.

I've been listening to a lot of records from this era recently, and had been thinking of starting a thread when I get the time. There's such an embarrassment of riches there.

Would love to see that thread and some recommendations.  60's/70's Japanese jazz is my most underexplored area of musical interest.

[mjazzg]

I don't know the albums under discussion but do know a thread on this era of Japanese Jazz will lead to bankruptcy (I'm only just readjusting after Rabshakeh's European Modernism thread)  

I thought we had a thread on the freer end of the spectrum from this time period in Japan but can't find it with a search but I'm not functioning very efficiently today so it's probably out there

[felser]

1 minute ago, mjazzg said:

I don't know the albums under discussion but do know a thread on this era of Japanese Jazz will lead to bankruptcy (I'm only just readjusting after Rabshakeh's European Modernism thread)  

I thought we had a thread on the freer end of the spectrum from this time period in Japan but can't find it with a search but I'm not functioning very efficiently today so it's probably out there

We did several years ago, and that cost me, but always open to more input.

[HutchFan]

2 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

I don't know the albums under discussion but do know a thread on this era of Japanese Jazz will lead to bankruptcy

So true!    

Just the Japanese Victors alone will put a person in the poor house.

 

[felser]

Indeed, the costs involved are why this area is underemployed for me!

[Rabshakeh]

Three Blind Mice records in particular go for eye watering prices sometimes.

I see that there was a 70s Japan thread:

I see that it covers many of the classics, including Kosuke Mine and his associates, who are currently being streamed pretty regularly over at chez Rabshakeh's.

[clifford_thornton]

Sonnet is the one I would like to own, as it's got a freer piece by Hideto Kanai, who I like quite a bit.