30th
Anniversary
Blue
Notes Orchestra
01 : On Reflection Listen
This piece was composed by most well-known
Japanese
trombonist Shigeharu Mukai. Mukai's
small combo original version was
arranged for four horn players. Ray Harada,
the arranger for Hamamatsu
BLUE NOTES Orchestra, adapted this
well established original harmony
to the orchestra version. The first solo
starts with a trumpeter,
Tomonao Hara who appears on this recording
as a guest artist. Hara's
performance was followed by soloists David
Keech (Trombone), Satoshi Ozawa
(Alto Sax) and Junichi Fujimori (Piano).
The friendship between Hara
and Hamamatsu BLUE NOTES Orchestra started
during Hara's school days and
they have been performing together quite
ofter after Hara's
professional debut.
02: White Cliff Listen
We featured Hiroyasu Abe to serenade the
beautiful melody
line. Shinya Koseki follows with a lyrical
piano solo. This ballad was
composed and arranged by well-established
Swedish pianist Lars Jansson.
The friendship with Jansson began when he
toured with his
piano trio and/or Bohuslan Big Band to Hamamatsu
City. Jansson started
contributing his orchestrated scores to Hamamatsu
BLUE NOTES Orchestra. In
2002, BLUE NOTES Orchestra performed this
composition at YOTSUIKE,
MUSE in Hamamatsu City. On this concert,
we featured a tenor
saxphonist Ove Ingemarsson from BohusleAn
Big Band and Hiroyasu Abe
(Tenor Sax) received a strong inspiration
from Ingemarsson.
03: Gone Gone Gone Listen
For the "Porgy and Bess" musical
Gershwin composed many
tunes such as Summertime which can be played
in jazz format, and this
"Gone Gone Gone" is also one of
them. The hot solos were played by
David Keech (Trombone), Hiroyasu Abe
(Tenor Sax) and Tomonao Hara
(Trumpet) in fast tempo. We also featured
the drummer, Takanori Hinaiji who
has been performing with Hamamatsu BLUE NOTES
Orchestra for 20
years.
04: Sacred Listen
Again this ballad was composed by Lars Jansson.
This trumpet sound was
created by Tomonao Hara and some can translate
it to one's
"sacred" prayer just like
angel Gabriel's trumpet. Junichi
Fujimori's beautiful piano solo and arrangement
can be heard occasionally
between Hara's melody and improvisation.
05: Nutcracker Listen
This was a composition by Wayne Andre. Not
many people in
Japan know him, but he is quite well-known
studio trombonist in New
York. In the early 1980's Andre used to lead
the four trombonists'
ensemble along with Conrad Herwig. This composition
was recorded on
cassette tape which Andre sent to BLUE NOTES
Orchestra. This might be a
first professional recording of "Nutcracker".
On this track, we
used Michio Kagiwada's arrangement. Kagiwada
is also a veteran
trombonist in the Japanese studio world.
And Kagiwada used to featured
himself when he performed this composition.
This time we feature David
Keech (Trombone), Kenji Hirano(Trombone),
Hiroyasu Abe (Tenor
Sax) and Shinya Koseki (Piano). And at the
ending, we can hear individual trombonists
short solos
in order of Satoshi Nakatsugawa, Souichiro
Fujishita, Kenji Hirano and
Hiroshi Endo.
06 & 07: The City - Part 1, Part 2-Part3
Composer, Osamu Shiomura published this piece
in 1979.
This composition "The City" consists
of 4 suites however we used Part 1 to
Part 3 on this recording. Part 1 "Puppy
Taking the Air" : A quiet
composition which lets us imagine the early
morning dawn in the city.
On Shiomura's score, he featured flugel horn
to lead the melody, however
we can hear Hideaki Tokunaga (Guitar) with
his mellow solo. Part 2
"Diviner and Crowds" The unison
line saxophone section created the
image of the city during rush hour. On this
track we can hear wide variety
solos such as Takashi Kawakami (Trombone)
who is good at mode and free
style performance, emotional player Naoyuki
Onozawa (Alto Sax),
modern sound by Shinya Koseki (Electronic
Piano), Hideaki Tokunaga
(Guitar) and Hiroyasu Abe (Tenor Sax). Part
3 "Scramble" By bassist,
Takahiro Okumura started playing the pattern
with different tempo by
himself, and the composition transfered to
bright samba feel. After
Hideaki Tokunaga's acoustic guitar solo and
Shinya Koseki's (Electronic
Piano) tapping solo, the orchestra completed
whole three part suites.
08: Time For a Change
When BLUE NOTES Orchestra toured in the USA,
all members
attended Stan Kenton's music camp. At this
music camp, members met
Kenton Orchestra's composer Hank Levy. Kenton
Orchestra recorded this piece
on the album "Kenton '75". This
piece was written in 9/4, however Levy
was good at writing many beautiful melodies
on odd meter structures.
Therefore BLUE NOTES Orchestra have had many
repertoire by Levy. The solo
was by Hiroyasu Abe (Tenor Sax).
09: Ictus Listen
The piece was written by Carla Bley. When
Gil Evans toured
Japan in 70's with Japanese musicians such
as Masabumi Kikuchi, he
performed the composition called "Hannibal"
featuring Marvin Peterson.
On this composition, BLUE NOTES Orchestra
wanted to create a
similar atmosphere.
On this track we featured two trumpeters,
Shuichi Sawada
who has been a member from the beginning
and guest artist Tomonao Hara.
10: Swiss Suite
The composition was by Oliver Nelson, who
was a great
saxophonist, composer, arranger and band
leader. Owed to Nelson's
individuality, we assume not many people
have had a chance to listen to this
composition by anybody but Nelson's Band.
However BLUE NOTES Orchestra
has been performing this composition at many
jazz festivals since
the 1970's.
Therefore many members feel nostalgic toward
this
composition. Since the earlier stage of the
BLUE NOTES Orchestra, we have
been featuring Eiji Neriki (Piano), Hisashi
Kenmochi (Tenor Sax) and
Shuichi Sawada (Trumpet). We can also listen
to their solos on this track
in addition to plunger mute trombone solo
by Takashi Kawakami.
SPECIAL GUEST
Tomonao Hara (Trumpet): He started
playing jazz during
his college days and the friendship with
BLUE NOTES Orchestra began.
After graduation, he became a professional
artist. Most notable
performance was to be introduced on the Japanese
TV series call
"Jonetsu Tairiku".
Because of his beautiful tone and powerful
performance, he
is currently a most popular trumpet player
in Japan. He can be heard
with many great jazz artists, and is actively
performing not only in Japan
but also in Europe and USA.
Hideaki Tokunaga (Guitar): Born in Osaka,
Japan. He moved
to New York in 1985 and moved again to Los
Angeles in 1990. He
attended California Institute of the Arts
and graduated with his masters
degree in Jazz in 1998. During his school
years, he received the 18th Annual
Down Beat Jazz Magazine Award as the Best
USA and Canada College
Jazz Soloist. He is performing in Los Angeles
area and Japan.
GREETING by Band Leader
Hamamatsu BLUE NOTES Orchestra was formed
in 1975 and this
year (2005) was our 30th aniversary year.
Among the recordings we had
in recent years, we selected the pieces with
these following
reasons.
(1) compositions which have strong connection
to us,
(2) compositions which might not have been
performed by big bands so much and
(3) compositions which creates nostalgic
feelings among orchestra members.
We did not follow a usual CD production with
a strong theme. However
we hope that listeners can find favorite
compositions and unknown great
performers. I also hope that this opportunity
is the first step of our
continuous recordings and tours.I would like
to thank the many previous band members who
returned to support this recording, special
guests trumpeter Mr.Hara
and guitarist Mr.Tokunaga. To trombonist
David Keech who performed with
us this two years in Hamamatsu and returned
to London. Special thanks
to Mr.Hirano / Excutive Producer at YOTSUIKE,
MUSE, who helped make
this project a reality.
Minoru Harada : Leader & Conductor
Order from outside Japan
Order in US : Cadence Music Sales
(further information : hide@tokunaga.us (Hideaki Tokunaga) )
Order in UK : mail to davidkeech@btinternet.com (David Keech)
INSIDE JAPAN
[ Price \2000 include Shipping fee within Japan ]
For more information about us , mail to bluenotes75@yahoo.co.jp
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