Ryo Kawasaki - Juice (2022 Mr Bongo First European Reissue LP, MRBLP252, Replica Obi)

Ryo Kawasaki - Juice | Vinyl LP - 2022 Mr Bongo First European Reissue (MRBLP252, Optimal Media GmbH)

• Ryo Kawasaki's 1976 jazz-funk fusion debut for RCA, recorded at RCA Studios in New York on 5–7 May 1976; Kawasaki's first album on an American major label, featuring Tom Coster (Santana) on keyboards, Sam Morrison (Miles Davis) on tenor saxophone and flute, Hugh McCracken on rhythm guitar, Stu Woods on bass and Jimmie Young on drums
• "Bamboo Child" (B3) has been sampled by Diamond D, Puff Daddy and Kool G Rap; the album has become a sought-after crate-digging record in the jazz-funk and hip-hop communities on both sides of the Atlantic
• 2022 Mr Bongo reissue is the first European pressing of the album, previously available only as a Japanese RCA original and through import copies. Replica sleeve, obi and labels

Ryo Kawasaki moved from Tokyo to New York in 1973 and spent the next few years working with Gil Evans, Elvin Jones and Chico Hamilton before signing to RCA — one of the first Japanese artists to sign with an American major, following Sadao Watanabe and Terumasa Hino. Juice was recorded at RCA Studios over three days in May 1976, produced by Mike Lipskin and engineered by Bob Simpson. Kawasaki wrote six of the seven tracks; the one exception is "The Breeze and I" (A3), the Ernesto Lecuona standard best known from his suite "Andalucía," given an English lyric by Al Stillman and here performed as an instrumental. For the session, Kawasaki recruited Tom Coster from Santana on keyboards, Sam Morrison from the Miles Davis band on tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and alto flute, Hugh McCracken — a ubiquitous session guitarist of the period — on rhythm guitar, and Stu Woods and Jimmie Young as the rhythm section.

The record moves between jazz-funk grooves, fusion shred and the emerging electric jazz of the mid-1970s New York studio scene. "Bamboo Child" (B3), a slower spiritual funk piece built on a deep repeating groove, became the album's most lasting track in the crate-digging and hip-hop communities — sampled by Diamond D, Puff Daddy and Kool G Rap. The Bandcamp Daily placed "El Toro" in the tradition of the Loft party circuit and described it as the kind of track that would have cleared the floor at David Mancuso's New York Loft. Original copies of the RCA Japan pressing have remained difficult and expensive to find outside Japan. This 2022 Mr Bongo reissue is the first European pressing, with replica sleeve, obi and labels, pressed at Optimal Media GmbH and licensed from Sony Music Entertainment.