I first head him on a post-Charles Lloyd Chico Hamilton  record. I was not particularly impressed. On Round Trip, he damn near gets drowned by the rhythm section. No shame there, truthfully, those guys were on their own plane. And then he made that record where he "interpreted" Bird solos. Why? Hell if I know. Overall, he's not somebody I really care about 

That's a great comparison and like Sanborn, he had pretty broad interests beyond his pastel jazz ride of the '80s. Besides the dates with Mariano, I really like the wild Round Trip with Chick, Vitous and DeJohnnette and Kenya Ya Africa, where Watanabe's quartet is joined by the Inter-African Theatre Group.    

I have enjoyed this album of Sadeo Watanabe with The great Jazz Trio.

Haydn _ String Quartets Op.50/1, Op.50/2, Op50/3 Mozart - Piano Concertos No.14  and  No.21  - Walter Klien