more from
BBE
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Tachibana

by Tohru Aizawa Quartet

supported by
Slevin
Slevin thumbnail
Slevin I first heard the song 'Dead Letter' 30 years ago on the J Jazz Compilation and was completely enamored with it. 15 years later I managed to get an original copy on vinyl. I was finally able to hear Tanibachi in its entirety. The fact that this was 4 college students, in 1975 Japan, who made only a single album this incredible, is nothing short of amazing. And the fact that it was so elusive for so long makes it all the more enchanting.
Paco
Paco thumbnail
Paco I can feel how full of energy the club would be when they played these. Favorite track: Sacrament.
Nic McPhee
Nic McPhee thumbnail
Nic McPhee Splendid straight-ahead jazz with amazing drive and energy. This has gotten me through a lot of grading – thanks! Favorite track: La Fiesta.
ibr
ibr thumbnail
ibr Timeless and essential jazz. Fantastic LP and a package to match.
more...
/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Beautifully presented double vinyl. Gatefold with obi band, and liner notes by Tony Higgins

    Includes unlimited streaming of Tachibana via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £30 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    The long-awaited reissue of this mythic album will include new liner notes and photos, plus fully translated notes from the original Japanese text. The album is presented in an authentic thick card gatefold sleeve in a faithful reproduction of the original sleeve design.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Tachibana via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £12 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Immediate download of [numtracks]-track album in your choice of high-quality MP3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £8 GBP  or more

     

1.
2.
Sacrament 11:23
3.
La Fiesta 09:59
4.
Dead Letter 10:11
5.

about

The desire to discover and delve into new and unexplored areas of music has turned attention on the Japanese jazz scene of the 1970s, often regarded as its gilded age. The recent ground-breaking sell-out BBE compilation J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz from Japan 1969-1984 threw much needed light on this fascinating era and presented a range of artists and music that surprised and delighted all who heard it. A key track on the compilation was one of the rarest and least known: Dead Letter by the Tohru Aizawa Quartet, taken from ‘Tachibana’, an album so elusive that some pondered whether it even existed.

The album, Tachibana, was recorded in 1975 and, until included on the J Jazz compilation, was unknown except to a small group of obsessive Japanese jazz collectors. The privately pressed record was the only album made by the Quartet, four amateur musicians who were university students at the time. The session was financed by a local businessman, Ikujiroh Tachibana, who pressed up a few hundred copies to use as a business card. In the intervening 40 odd years since its recording, few copies have surfaced, making it an in-demand yet elusive artefact from the golden age of Japanese jazz. BBE Records are honoured to present a fully authorised reissue of this holy grail, licensed directly from the band themselves.

Tachibana has all the necessary components of a cult album: pressed in small numbers, a few mysterious and vague details about its origins, languishing in obscurity for decades and, above all, superb musical craftsmanship and skill. It can now be enjoyed by a new audience around the world.

The album opens with the dynamic percussion work-out Philosopher’s Stone written by the then law-student and drummer Tetsuya Morimura. It propels along with the band at full pelt, showcasing Morimura’s well-developed drumming style. For a teenage amateur player to compose and perform such an accomplished and impressive piece is a testament to the talent that the band contained. Philosopher’s Stone is followed by Sacrament, an epic modal composition by saxophonist Kyoichiro Morimura that fans of Wayne Shorter, Pharoah Sanders and late-era John Coltrane will appreciate. After an extended intro the band drop into a heavy, churning groove, Morimura’s saxophone scorching above the volcanic rhythm section.

Dead Letter, written by Aizawa himself, is an epic piano led symphony of spiritual jazz. Think McCoy Tyner at his imperial finest and you’ll get a flavour: impact, emotion and power all suffuse to create a overwhelming experience. Amazingly, this is still the only Aizawa composition yet to be recorded.

The Tachibana album also includes two cover versions, both Latin flavoured numbers delivered with élan and brio: La Fiesta by Chick Corea and the classic Samba de Orfeu by Luiz Bonfá.

So, just five tracks in total, the sole existing evidence of an astonishing band, the Tohru Aizawa Quartet.

The long-awaited reissue of this mythic album will include new liner notes and photos, plus fully translated notes from the original Japanese text. The album will be presented in an authentic thick card gatefold sleeve in a faithful reproduction of the original sleeve design.

credits

released July 27, 2018

2018, BBE

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Tohru Aizawa Quartet Japan

contact / help

Contact Tohru Aizawa Quartet

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Tohru Aizawa Quartet, you may also like: