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viewing 1 To 16 of 16 items
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LTJC 017LP
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$31.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 8/23/2024
Gatefold packaging. Nobuo "Hara," whose real name is Nobuo Tsukahara, is a Japanese saxophonist who became known in 1951 with his big band, the Sharp & Flats. Together they recorded more than a hundred album during their career. Hozan Yamamoto is, for his part, a Shakuhachi player, a traditional Japanese flute, enjoying such recognition in his country that he was awarded a Living National Treasure in 2002. The first record bringing together the two musicians is a live recorded in 1967 during the Newport Jazz Festival. It was a year later, in 1968, that New Jazz in Japan, their first studio recording, was released. Accompanied by the power of the Sharps & Flats, Nobuo Hara's tenor sax and Hozan Yamamoto's shakuhachi respond subtly to give this record, which had not been reissued since 1971, a completely unique style.
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LTJC 016LP
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Gatefold packaging. Terumasa Hino is undoubtedly one of the most famous Japanese jazzmen. Learning the trumpet at the age of nine, he began his career as a professional musician by playing in the orchestra of an US Army base, before joining Hideo Shiraki's Quintet and then forming his own band in 1964. On Hi-Nology, his brother Motohiko Hino appears on drums, Hiroma Suzuki on electric piano, Kumitsu Inaba on electric bass and Takeru Muraoka on tenor sax. The inspiration from the "electric period" of Miles Davis (notably Miles In The Sky released in 1968) is felt and is even accepted, since the opening piece is entitled "Like Miles." Coincidentally, Hi-Nology was recorded on July 31, 1969, the day after the release of In a Silent Way and has nothing to envy of this great record by Miles Davis.
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LTJC 015LP
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Gatefold packaging. Le Tres Jazz Club can't really say that Japanese jazzmen benefit (not justify in fact) from a great international fame. However, trumpet player Terumasa Hino is an exception, undoubtedly because since the '70s he has collaborated with numerous American musicians: Gary Burton, Roy Haynes, Herbie Hancock -- on Into the Heaven, which was released in 1970, Terumasa Hino is surrounded by the same musicians as on Hi- Nology (LTJC 016LP), released a year earlier: his brother Motohiko Hino on drums, Hiromasa Suzuki on electric piano, Kunimitsu Inaba on electric bass, and Takeru Muraoka on tenor sax. The eponymous piece, which lasts more than 20 minutes, is a jazz fusion giving room to choruses and which is reminiscent of the music that Miles Davis then offered. B side opens with "Love More Train," a brilliant and long hard bop song, while the album closes melancholy with the peaceful "Feeling Blues As You Are Feeling."
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LTJC 014LP
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Reissue, originally released in 1969. An iconic French free jazz record recorded at Pathé Marconi Studios. On June 27th, 1969, Michel Portal pushed the door of the Pathé Marconi studios. With him were drummers Jacques Thollot and Aldo Romano, bassist Jean-François Jenny-Clark, and pianist Joachim Kühn. They hadn't rehearsed anything, as if entering the studio to record an album without any plan was something normal. The musicians were obviously very used to playing with each other, as the five tracks on Our Meanings And Our Feelings seem to flow perfectly without any hint of improvisation. The zokra, an oriental clarinet that Michel Portal plays on "Walking Through The Land" and "Dear Old Morocco" brings a singular touch to this album. This singularity is transcended by Joachim Kühn's ability to easily go from the piano to the saxophone alto, from supporting to soloing, before playing the bells, then the tambourine, opening the soundscape. Our Meanings And Our Feelings may not be the first French free jazz record -- as it was preceded by the fantastic Free Jazz by François Tusques, released in 1965 and on which Michel Portal plays as well -- but it remains one of the most important. Its incredible outburst of sounds and melodies is completely free yet never turns into cacophony. 44 years after its release, it is still urgent to listen to Our Meanings And Our Feelings and what these five talented musicians had to say.
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LTJC 003LP
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2023 repress. Reissue, originally released in 1975. Fuzati (Klub des Loosers) producer and die-hard crate digger has teamed up with Modulor to launch Le Très Jazz Club, a label exclusively dedicated to vinyl reissue and jazz. With this reissue of Orang-Utan by legendary bassist and cello player Isao Suzuki, Le Tres Jazz Club offers a remarkable and highly sought-after free jazz album. The eponymous track is a sublime mix of free jazz and jazz fusion, led by sax player Kenji Mori and Kazumi Watanabe on guitar. Essential!
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LTJC 001LP
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Le Très Jazz Club present a reissue of Kosuke Mine Quintet's first release, Mine, originally released on Three Blind Mice in 1970. Fuzati (Klub Des Loosers), producer and die-hard crate digger, has teamed up with Modulor to launch the Le Très Jazz Club label, dedicated to jazz vinyl reissues. For the first two releases, Mine, presented here, and Green Caterpillar (LTJC 002LP), Le Très Jazz Club has chosen to celebrate Japan. Japanese jazz is sadly one of the best-kept secrets in music. But, it would be a huge loss to miss Mine, the sublime first album from Kosuke Mine Quintet, released in 1970 on the legendary Three Blind Mice label. The record, made of a four long pieces where Kosuke Mine's sax (alto and soprano) and Hideo Ichikawa's Fender Rhodes never stop to respond to each other is a monument of dense and spiritual jazz.
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LTJC 002LP
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2023 restock; Le Très Jazz Club present a reissue of Masaru Imada Trio + 2's Green Caterpillar, originally released on Three Blind Mice in 1975. Fuzati (Klub Des Loosers), producer and die-hard crate digger, has teamed up with Modulor to launch the Le Très Jazz Club label, dedicated to jazz vinyl reissues. For the first two releases, Mine (LTJC 001LP) and Green Caterpillar, presented here, Le Très Jazz Club has chosen to celebrate Japan. Japanese jazz is sadly one of the best-kept secrets in music. But, it would be stupid to not discover Green Caterpillar by Masaru Imada Trio + 2. Led by Masaru Imada and his Fender Rhodes, the record opens with "A Green Caterpillar", an 11-minute piece whose groove is somewhat reminiscent of Marc Moulin and his Placebo band. "A Straight Flash" continues along this line, while on "Blue Impulse" and "Spanish Flower" sees Imada use the piano in a much more modal style.
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LTJC 013LP
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Le Tres Jazz Club present a reissue of George Otsuka Quintet's Sea Breeze, originally released in 1971. George Otsuka, sadly passed away in March 2020, was one of Japan's most renowned jazz drummers. After three records with the George Otsuka Trio in the late part of the '60s, Sea Breeze was released in 1971 on the Union label, his first record in quintet formation and a superb album which showcases the thrilling talent of this band. Included the brilliant jazz-funk track "Sea Breeze" and the astonishing cover of "Fool on the Hill". Personnel: George Otsuka - drums; Shunzo Ohno - trumpet, flugelhorn; Takao Uematsu - tenor sax, soprano sax; Takashi Mizuhashi - bass; Hideo Ichikawa - electric piano. Gatefold sleeve.
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LTJC 012LP
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2023 restock. Le Tres Jazz Club present a reissue of Marion Brown's Le Temps Fou (Musique du film de Marcel Camus), originally released in 1969. Marion Brown, who moved to Europe two years earlier than 1969, and records, in the legendary Parisian studio Davout, the soundtrack of the movie by Marcel Camus entitled Le Temps Fou. The movie starred Nino Ferrer was out in 1970 under the title Un été sauvage. Fallen into oblivion, Le Temps Fou was printed in very few copies and is almost impossible to find in its original pressing. Personnel: Marion Brown - alto sax, bells; Gunter Hampel - vibes, bass clarinet, tree bells; Ambrose Jackson - trumpet cow bells, tambour; Barre Phillips - contra basse, castanetes, whistle; Steve McCall - drums, triangle, tambour; Alain Corneau - claves, cow bells.
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LTJC 010LP
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Four Units is a kind of Japanese "all star" jazz. Recorded in Tokyo on April 1969, it was released the same year on Union Records. On the first two long songs that open this album, "Four Units" and "Dull Slumber", you can feel the influence of the "avant-garde" scene of US jazz (and in particular ESP-Disk'), without however the music sounding too "free". A whole new vibe on the astonishing cover of "Scarborough Fair", in a modal style, where the shadow of McCoy Tyner seems to hang over the piano. The next two tracks, "Rainbow Trout" and "Black Bass", are still pretty much along the same line, sometimes oscillating towards hard bop, the album ending in a blaze of glory with a solo by Masahiko Togashi. While this album had a second pressing in Japan in the '70s, this is the first time it has been reissued with its gatefold cover. Personnel: Akira Miyazawa - tenor sax, flute; Masahiko Sato - piano; Masahiko Togashi - drums; Yasuo Arakawa - bass.
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LTJC 011LP
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Leeward, released in 1978 on Union Record, is the second album by tenor and soprano saxophonist Mabumi Yamaguchi. Already in quartet formation for his previous album, After The Rain, released two years earlier, Mabumi Yamaguchi changes musicians here to surround himself with Ikuo Sakurai on bass, Hideo Sekine on drums and Ichiro Doi on piano and electric piano. Leeward opens with "Dawn", a long and slow piece led by a Fender Rhodes played in flanger mode, on which Mabumi Yamaguchi expresses a certain melancholy, which you also find on "Dewdrop", a duet piece with Ichiro Doi at the piano. The rhythm picks up on "Distant Thunder", a kind of jazz-funk samba in which Mabumi Yamaguchi lets each of his musicians take a long chorus before ending by taking up the haunting theme of this superb piece. The beautiful "Leeward" closes the album in a slightly more traditional but equally mastered style. It is not known if the cover of this album contributed to its lack of success when it was released, but it is almost impossible today to find an original pressing of this record. A reissue was therefore more than necessary! Mabumi Yamaguchi is still active and that he continues to release records and perform in concert in Tokyo. Personnel: Mabumi Yamaguchi - tenor sax, soprano sax; Ichiro Doi - piano, electric piano; Hideo Sekine - drums; Ikuo Sakurai - bass.
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LTJC 009LP
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Le Tres Jazz Club present a first time vinyl reissue of Hiromasa Suzuki's Primrose, originally released in 1978. Hiromasa Suzuki is a Japanese pianist who began his recording career in the early '70s. Nicknamed "Colgen" in Japan, he is well-known for two amazing records combining jazz-fusion and traditional Japanese instruments (Rock-Joint Biwa and Rock-Joint Cipher on the RCA label), jazz-funk oriented albums (High-Flying and Skip Step Cogen), and the famous record from the Electro Keyboard Orchestra, his band along with other famous Japanese pianists Yuji Ohno and Hideo Ichikawa. But Hiromasa Suzuki was also interested in more classical jazz. In 1978 he released Primrose on the Union label. It's a beautiful record of modal jazz, with Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and Steve Jackson on drums. An absolutely hard-to-find record, even in Japan, the album features incredible compositions like "Hornet", "Discharge", or "Early Summer".
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LTJC 008LP
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Le Tres Jazz Club presents a reissue of Makoto Terashita's Great Harvest, originally released in 1978. Pianist Makoto Terashita has only released three records under his name during his career. Topology with Harold Land, on the great indie Japanese label Aketa (1984), Ihatov, a trio, with only one of his composition (1997), and Great Harvest. Released in 1978 on the Japanese label Union, Great Harvest is the first record of a then young Makoto Terashita who proudly poses on the back cover of this album recorded in New York. In five tracks, three of them being his own compositions ("Samoa", "Great Harvest", and "Tell Me An Old Story Grand Papa"), Makoto Terashita shows an exceptional mastery of the piano, accompanied by Bob Berg on tenor sax, Errol Walter on bass, Jo Jones Jr on drums, and Yoshiaki Masuo on guitar. Essential for Japanese jazz fans and all great jazz lovers.
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LTJC 006LP
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2023 restock. Le Très Jazz Club present the first reissue of George Otsuka Quintet's Physical Structure, originally released in 1976. Reissued for the first time outside of Japan, Physical Structure by Japanese drummer George Otsuka is an amazing jazz-fusion album, featuring Fumio Karashima on the piano, electric piano, synth, and Fender Rhodes and Shozo Sasaki on tenor and soprano sax. Check the surprising and sublime cover of "Naima" which alone justifies getting this record. Also features Mitsuako Furuno (bass) and Norio Ohno (percussion). Recorded on February 11, 1976. Le Très Jazz Club keeps on exploring Japanese jazz and the Three Blind Mice catalog with this reissue.
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LTJC 007LP
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Le Très Jazz Club present the first reissue Naosuke Miyamoto Sextet's Step!, originally released in 1973. A fantastic modal jazz LP, led by Naosuke Myamoto on bass, with Masayoshi Yoneda on the piano and Takashi Goto on saxophone. On "One For Trane", the group delivers a strong and amazing moment of spiritual jazz. Also features Kunji Shigi (trumpet), Takashi Furuya, and Shoji Nakayama (drums). Produced by Takeshi Jujii. Recorded on August 25, 1973. Le Très Jazz Club keeps on exploring the Three Blind Mice catalog with this reissue, marking their seventh release.
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LTJC 005LP
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2023 repress. Le Très Jazz Club present a reissue of Elysian Spring's Glass Flowers, originally released in 1969. Glass Flowers, recorded in 1969, is an unclassifiable album, overtaking the jazz outlines. Can words really describe music? It may be hard when music is as fantastic as on this LP. Glass Flowers is an unclassifiable album, overtaking the jazz outlines, recorded by Rainer Bertrams (piano, vibes, flute), Bruce Krasin (saxophone, flute), Lenny Ezbicky (drums), and Jimmy Bridges (bass). Only 500 copies of the record were privately pressed at the time by a group of students which where fans of the band. Repressed for the first time on LP by Le Très Jazz Club, this fantastic album comes with an insert documenting the story of Elysian Spring and the recording of this true masterpiece.
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