MUSiC: Seychelles, Masayoshi Takanaka, 1976

More musical fabulousness from Japan’s Masayoshi Takanaka. Track one, Oh Tengo Suerte, is also the first track on All Of Me. A number I love so much I want to get both of those albums!

A little later…

Well… Holy guacamole! Just listened to the entire album, in one pass. And my goodness, it’s amazing! First off the range is very wide. It’s all tinged with a ‘70s fusion vibe. And being predominantly instrumental, there’s a definite jazz aspect.

But it’s also all over the map in many ways. Perhaps the single best example of this is the pretty bonkers final piece, which starts and finishes with layered vocal harmonies and barely audible acoustic guitar, before barreling off into a Japanese prog-fusion wonderland both very like some kind of CTI thing, but also unlike anything else.

The musicianship is absolutely stunning. Unsurprisingly Takanaka is the star, on prominent display here. But, everything, the percussion, the drumming, the keys (other stuff: vocals, strings, horn solos, whatever), and very notably the bass, are all stunning.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *