Hidehiko Matsumoto

[Late]

Did anyone else pick this one up from Dusty Groove recently? The Bards describe this album as reminiscent of Hank Mobley's Soul Station, and I thought I'd give it a chance. Were The Bards correct? Um, no!

Even better (for my ears at least), Matsumoto is straight out of the Sonny Rollins bag, circa 1957. Few tenor players are able to convincingly get Newk's phrasing, let alone his actual sound. Matsumoto does both — not so much slavishly, but rather in loving homage (as I hear it). Despite the strong influence, he is a fine and capable player on his own.

Recorded in 1960, Modern Jazz is a quartet/quintet setting and is beautifully recorded. A guitarist (I can't read the liners, which are in Japanese) appears on a few tracks, and sounds amazingly similar to Barney Kessel. There are even some trio features where the pianist drops out, as well as one track that is entirely acapella tenor saxophone.

Warmly recommended, especially if you sometimes have a jones for that "lost" Newk album from the mid-50's.

[MartyJazz]

Did anyone else pick this one up from Dusty Groove recently? The Bards describe this album as reminiscent of Hank Mobley's Soul Station, and I thought I'd give it a chance. Were The Bards correct? Um, no!

Even better (for my ears at least), Matsumoto is straight out of the Sonny Rollins bag, circa 1957. Few tenor players are able to convincingly get Newk's phrasing, let alone his actual sound. Matsumoto does both — not so much slavishly, but rather in loving homage (as I hear it). Despite the strong influence, he is a fine and capable player on his own.

Recorded in 1960, Modern Jazz is a quartet/quintet setting and is beautifully recorded. A guitarist (I can't read the liners, which are in Japanese) appears on a few tracks, and sounds amazingly similar to Barney Kessel. There are even some trio features where the pianist drops out, as well as one track that is entirely acapella tenor saxophone.

Warmly recommended, especially if you sometimes have a jones for that "lost" Newk album from the mid-50's.

I haven't heard this musician in years. I recall a good friend playing me a tape of what I believe must be this tenor player, except he went by the nickname "Sleepy", as in Sleepy Matsumoto. Would love to hear this disc, so perhaps I'll cop it also. Thanks for the rec.

[Late]

Yes, in full (with moniker) it's: Hidehiko "Sleepy" Matsumoto.

He has that chocolate-y tone similar to what Newk has on With the Contemporary Leaders. The album won't make anyone do a back-flip, but if you're a hardcore Newk fan from his "golden period," it's definitely worth checking out. It's not a disc that I'll simply file away after a spin or two. It'll get into the rotation for a while.

[marcello]

This one is nice:

Eternal Dreams

Date: November 17 & 18, 1996

Location: Clinton Recording Studio, NY

Hidehiko 'Sleepy' Matsumoto (ldr), Lew Soloff (t), Antonio Hart (as), Johnny Griffin (ts), Hidehiko 'Sleepy' Matsumoto (ts, a), Joe Locke (vib, a), Cyrus Chestnut (p), George Mraz (b, a), Lewis Nash (d), Steve Berrios (per)

a. Blue Bossa (Kenny Dorham)

b. Dream (Johnny Mercer)

c. Tenderly (Walter Gross, Jack Lawrence)

d. Autumn In Rome (Sammy Cahn, Paul Weston, Alessandro Cicognini)

e. Waltz Swing

f. Dark Eyes (Traditional)

g. Loss of Love (Henry Mancini, Bob Merrill)

h. Unknown Title

i. Morning Glow In Manhattan

All titles on: - Meldac (Jpn.) CD: MECJ-2017 - Eternal Dreams

[Late]

Rather than start yet another new topic, I wanted to mention this title (which includes Hidehiko Matsumoto) — led by drummer Hideo Shiraki:

Dusty Groove is currently offering this title — where they exclaim (who knew?) that the cd has 14 (!) tracks, combining 2 (!) albums (!) by Shiraki. Um, wrong again.

The disc has the same album twice — once in stereo (Stereo Drum), and once in mono (Black Mode). Not what I expected at first, but I actually like this approach. Evidently, the session was recorded in both mono and stereo, as the stereo version sounds authentic — no "electronically rechannelled" stuff. I actually prefer the mono, though! The whole session is beautifully recorded, and opens with a well-miked drum solo track, where Shiraki shows his love for Art Blakey. He's no Bu, but Shiraki can play.

The music on the album as a whole reminds me very much of Moanin'. In fact, Matsumoto (if I'm to believe Dusty Groove as listing him in the personnel for this session) temporarily drops his Newk bag for a pretty convincing Benny Golson bag. Worth hearing.

Overall, this album does sound derivative to my ears — whereas Hidehiko Matsumoto's own Modern Jazz does not. It's still a solid hardbop date, but — the one drum solo track aside — emits few sparks.

[Bright Moments]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Hidehiko Matsumoto -- Modern Jazz . . . CD . . . $14.99 List Price: $24.99

Teichiku/Think (Japan), 1960 Condition: New Copy

Temporarily Out Of Stock: Hit the 'Send Request' button to receive an email notice if the item comes back

[Late]

Heads-up!

The Bards have the Matsumoto disc on sale for $11.99 right now. Great price for a good disc.

[Dmitry]

You got me somewhat curious.

Does anyone have any sound samples, an mp3 file, perhaps?

[Late]

Dmitry — imagine outtakes from Rollins' And The Contemporary Leaders, and you've got your sound samples. Matsumoto has a little less fire than Sonny, which isn't surprising, but he can play. The sound on the disc is superb, too.

There might be actual sound samples floating around somewhere, but I've never checked ...

[Dmitry]

Time to pay the bastards a call.

[JSngry]

Got to hear this, and as much as I hear the Newk, I hear the Hank at least equally. Rhythm section is kinda wobbly in spots, as is the leader, but not in an incompetent way. I hear them still learning to speak the language. Sincere, at time confident, at times flatering. Just as anybody else in the still-formative stages of attempting to speak a language that is not native to them.

I gotta wonder about that osca-pella version of "Bali Hi" though...was 1960 still close enough to the whole WWII-occupation thing that picking a song from South Pacific might have had..."subtext"?

And "Volare"! Maybe it took a non-American to see past the "baggage" of the source and into the hipness of the blowing potential of the tune.

All in all, a pleasuarably informative listen, I'd say.