The Japanese Jazz Thread!

[CAT5 9075]

THE JAPANESE JAZZ THREAD!

Anyone here into the Japanese jazz scene at all? I'm quite a fan and I'm curious to know if TW has any other "J-jazz-heads" out there. I'm neither a jazz elitist nor a jazz-purist, so I welcome discussion of anything from pop-jazz to free-jazz. Bossa and related genres are welcome too. Anything jazz-related goes!

J-jazz fans unite!

[Neon 6]

THE JAPANESE JAZZ sounds good , Can you Recommend some good bands?

I'm curiuos here

Is midori j- jazz band?

[CAT5 9075]

^ midori definitely has some jazz elements, but they're more a mix of different styles.

As for recommendations, wow um...There's tons of stuff out there.

You really can't go wrong with Soil&Pimp Sessions. They've been around for a long time and have proven to deliver consistently. Definitely one of the key bands in the J-Jazz scene.

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Or you could try these newcomers, カゲロウ (kagero). They have more of a punk-jazz approach that may appeal to you since you like midori.

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If you're looking for something a bit smoother than Soil&Pimp and Kagero, you could try Jabberloop. These club-jazzers have made a very nice name for themselves within the scene.

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I dunno man. Let me know what you think about those so I can better pinpoint your tastes. Are you looking for stuff with vocals?

[Guest]

HOWEVER, I swear I'll delete any posts that mention some j-rock band just because they did a "jazzy" track or two[/center]

Butbutbut this bassline in this gazette song has a minor seventh and a bit of swing!

Love the picture, Hiromi is one of the greatest Jazz pianists around today.

[CAT5 9075]

^ hey, hey watch it. leave my gazetti-poohs outta this ;p

lmao...yeah, Hiromi is THAT CHICK. I haven't been keeping up with her work, though. I'm just now listening to her most recent album, "Place To Be". Have you heard it yet?

She has a DVD up on KMC that I spotted yesterday. Will need to DL that soon if the links are still active. The women is a beast!

[Neon 6]

I just love all stuff you recommend , all of 3 bands sound really good

[fitear1590 2414]

Oooh, hoping you guys can list some good bossa nova stuff. I love me some brazilian bossa, but I didn't even know there was any Japanese stuff.

Have you heard the masterpiece EROS by lycaon? That is pure jazz! Hahaha

[Guest]

^ hey, hey watch it. leave my gazetti-poohs outta this ;p

lmao...yeah, Hiromi is THAT CHICK. I haven't been keeping up with her work, though. I'm just now listening to her most recent album, "Place To Be". Have you heard it yet?

She has a DVD up on KMC that I spotted yesterday. Will need to DL that soon if the links are still active. The women is a beast!

I haven't! Need to asap.

Might as well pimp out my favourites:

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[tosinn 3]

The only jazzish things I listen to are Tokyo Jihen, Sugar and Midori. Does that even count?

[LIDL 692]

definitely my thing.

My fave band are Coco D'Or, and solo musician is Lisa Ono. Well, Lisa's actually Bossa Nova though with Jazzy tings. But still

I encounter with Lisa 's music accidentally though.

When i went to Beijing, and there's so many street vendors that selling bootleg CD and DVD were all playing her numbers. It makes me curious how can someone that massively popular in a place that most of the people still butthurt over Japanese for what they did during war.

So i bought some of those bootlegs and listen to it,

and fell in love. Next thing i know was she got a very huge discography! I still collecting her music at this moment. Her original CDs isn't that hard to get anyway, so that really significant point for me to be an avid audience of her now.

Her voice just so delicate and her music are very cozy.

I love her!

[Aion 184]

I listen to some jazz from time to time, but it certainly isn't my greatest forte. Bands I love are mostly either pop-jazz or jazz-rock. From the bands already mentioned I like Soil & Pimp Sessions and Kagero (last one is really awesome)

As for others of my favorites:

Jeena Majestic

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雲隠れ (koukakurui)

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8-eit

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ALMA plus

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nabowa

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[LIDL 692]

oh yeah, 8-Eit are so phenomenal!

So many people looking for their music, i see.

[CAT5 9075]

@Evoke.the.world - Tokyo Jihen have their jazzy moments, but I don't think they're considered part of the the jazz scene. They're more of a pop group. A kick-ass pop band, though. Isn't Sugar a VK band? and I already spoke about midori.

@Herpes - Zukunashi actually released a new album this year. It was missing some of the oomph from their first EP, but not bad overall. At any rate, I give those girls MAD PROPS for doing what they do. An all-female funk band is not a common sight...let alone an all female funk band from Japan! KCS is fun btw! =p

@Aion - Alma Plus's album was petty good. I absolutely love their vocalist, Nobie. I'm just mad that she keeps jumping from project to project instead of working with one solid band. But who knows, maybe they'll be a 2nd Alma Plus album...although personally, I was hoping she'd get back with her previous band, uni-birth.

@fitear1590 - Japanese bossa? As Chianti mentioned, there's Lisa Ono. Also check out naomi & goro, Dois Mapas, Saigenji, and Immigrant's Bossa Band. There are more, but those were on the top of my head. Check these out:

(I'm not embedding these cuz I don't wanna clog the thread with YT videos...)

naomi & goro

Immigrant's Bossa Band

Dois Mapas

Saigenji

[fitear1590 2414]

Thanks for the links Cat5.

Saigenji is a'ight, Immigrant's and Dois Mapas are really good, but Naomi & Goro is like perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. Same with Chianti's recommendation. Lisa Ono is also perfect, haha. Looking forward to listening to them.

[CAT5 9075]

Thanks for the links Cat5.

Saigenji is a'ight, Immigrant's and Dois Mapas are really good, but Naomi & Goro is like perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. Same with Chianti's recommendation. Lisa Ono is also perfect, haha. Looking forward to listening to them.

Just remembered Nilo Koizumi (??泉ニロ). She has some pretty decent stuff:

A bit lesser known, but there's also TOYONO:

Not bossa nova, but Mio Matsuda (??田美緒) might also be of interest to you. She sings fado, which is also dominated by the Portuguese tongue. Lovely stuff!

Are there any Jazz/Jazz related albums that you all have enjoyed this year?

[tosinn 3]

@Evoke.the.world - Tokyo Jihen have their jazzy moments, but I don't think they're considered part of the the jazz scene. They're more of a pop group. A kick-ass pop band, though. Isn't Sugar a VK band? and I already spoke about midori.

They're VK alright, but most of their songs have a jazz feel to it. I think they're the only VK band that can pull off adding jazzish elements though.

And I'll be checking out those songs you linked =)

[Aion 184]

@Aion - Alma Plus's album was petty good. I absolutely love their vocalist, Nobie. I'm just mad that she keeps jumping from project to project instead of working with one solid band. But who knows, maybe they'll be a 2nd Alma Plus album...although personally, I was hoping she'd get back with her previous band, uni-birth.

Never heard of uni-birth, but yeah, she can sing pretty good . They always remind me of the Persona-games OST's, a same kind of jazzy-feel

I completely forgot about モダンガァール&スナイパー (modern girl & sniper). They're doing electronic jazz. pretty cool album

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and 385 (new band of Miya from Bleach/bleach03) also has some jazz-influences

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[CAT5 9075]

^ 385 is like the "new" midori lol. Especially since midori's material is...lacking these days.

I'll ask the question again since it may have been overlooked, but are there any Jazz/Jazz-related releases you all have enjoyed this year? Any release you all currently into?

[Guest]

@Evoke.the.world - Tokyo Jihen have their jazzy moments, but I don't think they're considered part of the the jazz scene. They're more of a pop group. A kick-ass pop band, though. Isn't Sugar a VK band? and I already spoke about midori.

They're VK alright, but most of their songs have a jazz feel to it. I think they're the only VK band that can pull off adding jazzish elements though.

And I'll be checking out those songs you linked =)

I'd put them in a jazz-rock genre, every song of theirs has elements of blues, funk and jazz, they're a surprisingly good vk group if anyone hasn't heard them:

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Whilst TJ aren't jazz, 2 related groups, ?????? (..avant-pop? guessing TJ would fit that label well too) and Petrolz are and are great.

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[Number Girl 48]

Just posting to say I'm enjoying looking through this thread! I was never much of a jazz person, but some of this stuff is great.

[LIDL 692]

8-eit- new single and Asia by Lisa Ono is great releases

that i enjoyed muchly this year.

edit: especially Ono, she's like sing all popular Asian classic numbers and turning it into cozy Bossa tunes.

Seems she did it effortlessly cos the results just so good like always xD

from Mandarin, Tagalog, even Indonesian, she sang it all in this album! Amazing!

[CAT5 9075]

@Jonno - come to think of it, either Prism or Champ put me on to sugar a while ago and I remember diggin' them. ;]

New indigo jam unit is out. I only listened to it once so far, but it was quality as usual!

Here's the first track from the new album, "roots"

Admittedly, I've been sleepin' on Re-Trick, who surfaced just a few years ago. Never gave any of their albums a proper listen to be honest, but their latest is pretty damn ace!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do-edQyXkaI

[Tokage 5930]

I dunno, would mouse on the keys fit in this?

I'd say they've got alot of post-rock in them as well, but there's def. some 'jazz'-appeal in their music that pleases me.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I'm not much of a jazz listener but from time to time I enjoy these:

8-Eit, Buck Jam Tonic (only 1/3 Japanese but whatever), JiLL-decoy association, Satoko Fujii Quartet, Soil & "Pimp" Sessions...and Tokyo Jihen although I listened to them a looong~ time ago.

[guitar.chic92 1]

I've been looking for some Jazz music, so I'm loving this thread!

The jazziest thing I've listened to before is Merry, lol, so I'm glad to find some real Jazz to hunt down some downloads for.

Do any of these bands have US releases of their CDs?