{"title":"Isao Suzuki","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eIsao Suzuki was born in Tokyo in 1933, heard Milt Hinton play on a United States military base in 1953 and decided that was what he wanted to do, and taught himself double bass on the same bases where he had heard Hinton. He spent his early professional career working with Hidehiko Matsumoto, Sadao Watanabe and Shotaro Moriyasu, led his own ensemble in Tokyo from 1965 to 1969, and in 1969 was recruited by Art Blakey to join the Jazz Messengers in New York. What he found there deepened his playing: Ron Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk were among the musicians he recorded and performed with during the New York period. He returned to Japan in the early 1970s, went back to leading his own groups and working with visiting American musicians including Kenny Burrell and Mal Waldron, and began his recording career as a leader on Three Blind Mice. “Blow Up” (TBM, 1973) won the Japan Jazz Prize. “Black Orpheus” (TBM-63, 1976), recorded at Aoi Studio with pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto and drummer Donald Bailey, is the album that made his name internationally in the decades after its release: a trio session built from modal and soul-jazz playing that sits at the core of the Three Blind Mice canon. He also expanded his instrumental palette through the decade, playing cello and piccolo bass alongside the double bass that had been his primary voice. He mentored a generation of younger Japanese jazz musicians, including a teenage Hidefumi Toki who joined his group in the early 1970s. He established a jazz club in Osaka in 1987. Suzuki died of COVID-19 pneumonia on March 8, 2022, in Kawasaki, aged 89.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"isao-suzuki-trio-quartet-blow-up-1979-japanese-three-blind-mice-vinyl-lp","title":"Isao Suzuki Trio\/Quartet - Blow Up (1979 Japanese Three Blind Mice Vinyl LP)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIsao Suzuki Trio\/Quartet - \u003cem\u003eBlow Up\u003c\/em\u003e | Vinyl LP, 1979 Japanese Three Blind Mice Reissue (15PJ-1023, TBM Best 1500 Collection)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOne of the most sought-after titles in the Three Blind Mice catalogue\u003c\/strong\u003e, originally recorded March 29 and 30, 1973 at Aoi Studio, Tokyo, and awarded both the Jazz of Japan Award and the Jazz Disc Award by Swing Journal\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSuzuki on bass and cello with Kunihiko Sugano on piano and Fender electric piano, George Otsuka on drums\u003c\/strong\u003e, and Takashi Mizuhashi joining as second bassist on the quartet tracks, allowing Suzuki to move between the two instruments freely\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTBM Best 1500 Collection reissue\u003c\/strong\u003e from October 1979, manufactured by Nippon Phonogram and cut by Tohru Kotetsu at JVC, with obi and insert\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIsao Suzuki learned to play bass on American military bases in occupied Japan, worked his way through the Tokyo jazz scene in the 1960s, then moved to New York from 1969 to 1971 where he played with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Ella Fitzgerald and Jim Hall. He returned to Japan and began recording for Three Blind Mice, the label founded by Takeshi “Tee” Fujii in 1970 that became synonymous with audiophile-quality Japanese jazz. \u003cem\u003eBlow Up\u003c\/em\u003e was the album that established his reputation. The trio tracks feature Suzuki on bass with Sugano and Otsuka, playing with a directness and rhythmic force that earned comparisons to no one in particular, because the sound was his own. The quartet tracks add Mizuhashi on bass, freeing Suzuki to play cello, and the tonal contrast between the two configurations gives the album its range.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree Suzuki originals anchor the programme. “Aqua Marine” opens with a cool, pacing groove. The title track “Blow Up” is the centrepiece at seven and a half minutes, building in intensity through the ensemble. “Low Flight” closes side B. Between them sit two standards: “Everything Happens to Me” (the Matt Dennis ballad) and “I Can’t Get Started” (Vernon Duke and Ira Gershwin), both played with more grit than sentimentality. The recording, engineered by Yoshihiko Kannari at Aoi Studio, has the clarity and presence that TBM pressings are collected for: each instrument occupies its own space, and the bass and cello are captured with a physicality that rewards good speakers. This is the October 1979 reissue in the TBM Best 1500 Collection series (catalogue 15PJ-1023). Manufactured by Nippon Phonogram. Lacquer cut by Tohru Kotetsu at the Victor Company of Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Three Blind Mice","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44595696402491,"sku":null,"price":165.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/IMG_9203.jpg?v=1792273642"},{"product_id":"isao-suzuki-trio-black-orpheus-1979-japanese-three-blind-mice-vinyl-lp","title":"Isao Suzuki Trio - Black Orpheus (1979 Japanese Three Blind Mice Vinyl LP)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIsao Suzuki Trio - \u003cem\u003eBlack Orpheus\u003c\/em\u003e | Vinyl LP, 1979 Japanese Three Blind Mice Reissue (TBM(P)-2563, 2500 Cat Series)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe TBM label’s two biggest artists on one record\u003c\/strong\u003e: Isao Suzuki on bass and cello leading a trio with Tsuyoshi Yamamoto on piano and Fender electric piano, and American drummer Donald Bailey, who was living in Japan at the time\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFive tracks of standards and one Yamamoto original\u003c\/strong\u003e, opening with an eleven-minute reading of “Manhã de Carnaval” (the bossa nova standard from the 1959 film \u003cem\u003eBlack Orpheus\u003c\/em\u003e) and moving through “Angel Eyes”, “Who Can I Turn To”, “In a Sentimental Mood” and a closing blues\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1979 reissue in the 2500 Cat Series\u003c\/strong\u003e (third press), manufactured by Nippon Phonogram, with the same production team behind every major TBM session\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the session where TBM’s two leading artists meet. Isao Suzuki and Tsuyoshi Yamamoto had appeared together on the label before (the \u003cem\u003eNow’s the Time\u003c\/em\u003e live set in 1974), but \u003cem\u003eBlack Orpheus\u003c\/em\u003e is the album that defines their partnership. The trio format leaves nowhere to hide. Suzuki moves between bass and cello across the five tracks, and Yamamoto plays both acoustic piano and Fender electric piano, with the Rhodes adding a warmer, more atmospheric colour to the acoustic piano’s clarity. Donald Bailey, who had moved to Japan in the mid-1970s after years as the drummer in Jimmy Smith’s trio on Blue Note, brings a swing and a groove sensibility rooted in the American hard bop tradition. He had also played with John Coltrane in their early Philadelphia years, with Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, and Hampton Hawes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe programme opens with “Manhã de Carnaval” at over eleven minutes, the longest track, building from a bossa nova pulse into something more open and exploratory. “Angel Eyes” (Matt Dennis) and “In a Sentimental Mood” (Duke Ellington) are ballads played with restraint. “Who Can I Turn To” (Bricusse and Newley) has more rhythmic momentum. “Blues”, a Yamamoto original, closes side B. The recording, engineered by Yoshihiko Kannari at Aoi Studio on February 20, 1976, captures Suzuki’s cello pizzicato and Yamamoto’s Rhodes with a directness that makes the interplay between the three instruments the centre of attention. This is the 1979 reissue in the 2500 Cat Series, noted as a third press. The original release was TBM-63 (1976, with an EMI-manufactured version following in 1977). Manufactured by Nippon Phonogram. Lacquer cut by Tohru Kotetsu at the Victor Company of Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Three Blind Mice","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44595877642299,"sku":null,"price":200.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/IMG_9213.jpg?v=1792276457"}],"url":"https:\/\/lushliferecords.com.au\/collections\/isao-suzuki.oembed","provider":"Lush Life Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}