Deeply personal work from Japanese saxophonist Hidefumi Toki – a player who manages accomplish a great deal in a fairly stripped down setting – filling spare space with gentle notes on alto and soprano sax, often delivered with a nicely raspy tone! The group here is a quartet – with Kazumi Watanabe on guitar, Nobuyoshi Ino on bass, and Steve Jackson on drums – and the setting is laidback and mellow, often moving at a pace that's slow, but always flowing with a great gentle swing. Tracks are long, and titles include the great originals "Darkness", "Lullaby For The Girl" and "Old Song Blues" – plus nice takes "When Sunny Gets Blue" and Ornette Coleman's "Blues". CD

Deeply personal work from Japanese saxophonist Hidefumi Toki – a player who manages accomplish a great deal in a fairly stripped down setting – filling spare space with gentle notes on alto and soprano sax, often delivered with a nicely raspy tone! The group here is a quartet – with Kazumi Watanabe on guitar, Nobuyoshi Ino on bass, and Steve Jackson on drums – and the setting is laidback and mellow, often moving at a pace that's slow, but always flowing with a great gentle swing. Tracks are long, and titles include the great originals "Darkness", "Lullaby For The Girl" and "Old Song Blues" – plus nice takes "When Sunny Gets Blue" and Ornette Coleman's "Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

Twin alto sax work from the leaders – blowing here together with a really rich sound that almost feels like some of Phil Woods alto-heavy dates from years back, but with a vibe that's more 70s Japanese as well! The pair are both great soloists on their own – and step out in the lead on boppish tracks, but with phrasing that's far beyond just hokey Charlie Parker cliches – given an even more modern sense of expression through the quintet's use of guitarist Kazumi Watanabe, alongside bass and drums. The set features 11 minute takes on both "Lover Man" and "Scrapple From The Apple" – plus the side-long original "Blues For T&O", which runs for 19 minutes! CD

Deeply personal work from Japanese saxophonist Hidefumi Toki – a player who manages accomplish a great deal in a fairly stripped down setting – filling spare space with gentle notes on alto and soprano sax, often delivered with a nicely raspy tone! The group here is a quartet – with Kazumi Watanabe on guitar, Nobuyoshi Ino on bass, and Steve Jackson on drums – and the setting is laidback and mellow, often moving at a pace that's slow, but always flowing with a great gentle swing. Tracks are long, and titles include the great originals "Darkness", "Lullaby For The Girl" and "Old Song Blues" – plus nice takes "When Sunny Gets Blue" and Ornette Coleman's "Blues". CD

Hidefumi Toki is easily one of our favorite Japanese players from the 70s – an excellent alto saxophonist who always comes across with a sense of soul that's even deeper than his instrument! Toki has a way of putting together a session that's totally great – relaxed and open, with a lot of searching energy in his horn, yet never in a way that's ever forced or too outside – just kind of an organic exploration of the alto tones, but at a level that's much more common for 70s spiritual tenor players. This album's a real treasure from his Japanese catalog of the time – and features some very sweet keyboards from Mikio Masuda, plus rhythm from Ikeda Yoshio on bass and Steve Jackson on drums – on longish tracks that include "Sky View", "Rain Doctor", "Taro's Birthday", "I Love You Porgy", and "Let's Get Together". CD

A set that's got a vibe that's very much like the 80s-styled image on the cover – sweet Japanese fusion from the time, served up with plenty of keyboard work from Katsumi Horii – next to guitar from Hirokuni Korekata, who seems to get just as much space in the mix as the keyboards! There's other jazz players on the set too – including the great saxophonist Hidefumi Toki – yet the record also uses very contemporary rhythms borrowed from R&B, with drum patterns that bump things up from the bottom, while the electric instrumentation soars over the top! Titles include "Hot Is Cool", "Can't Go Back Tonight", "And My Party Began", "Non-Stop Paradise", "Alone At Last", and "Holy Sunset". LP, Vinyl record album

Searing live work from Japanese fusion giant Masayoshi Takanaka – almost a one man powerhouse himself, given that he produced, composed, and arranged the whole set – but also clearly has plenty of help from a crack jazz combo onstage! As with his studio records, the focus here is on Takanaka's sharp lines and solos – but there's also some nice keyboards on the set from Kiyosumi Ishikawa, and a bit of reed work from saxophonist Hidefumi Toki – who we always love. The record's a great one to showcase Masayoshi away from the studio – proof that his work on the strings of the guitar isn't a result of any recording trickery at all! Titles include "Tropic Bird", "Ready To Fly", "Explosion", "Disco B", and "Blue Lagoon". LP, Vinyl record album