Description
OnLoveplaydance, legendary Tokyo DJ and producer Toshio Matsuura charts a new direction. Casting musical cornerstones in a fresh light, the TOSHIO MATSUURA GROUP features Tom Skinner (drummer for Sons of Kemet and Owiny Sigoma Band amongst others) as its musical director, as well as some of the UKs most exciting jazz-influenced musicians. Drawing on years of surveying and curating different corners of music, Matsuura deftly combines this talented pool of players into one singular, wide-ranging album.
A co-founder of Japans United Future Organisation (aka U.F.O.), this new record sees Matsuura reconnect with longstanding friend and collaborator Gilles Peterson. Releasing the album via Brownswood Recordings in the UK, its a continuation of a relationship which started as a bridge between Londons then-blossoming jazz scene and Tokyos new musical vanguard of the early 90s. This album continues that two-way dialogue between Japan and the UK.
The project is focused on covers, putting classic or influential tracks in a new context, spanning a cross-section of Matsuuras taste. On Black Gold of the Sun, Cuban vocalist Daym Arocena fronts a new take on the Rotary Connection classic, along with a band guided by Tom Skinner that features her prodigious Havana-based players. Elsewhere, Byron Morris and Unitys Kitty Bey, a Dingwalls classic, is knocked into a tight, high energy new shape (by a band that includes Yussef Dayes, Yazz Ahmed and Nubya Garcia.)The scope of the music reflects the breadth of Matsuuras interests. It ranges from Bugges Wesseltofts Detroit-influenced, dancefloor-minded jazz, stretched out into a more meditative contemplation, to Flying Lotus LA-rooted, Brainfeeder beatmaking, translated from laptop-to-live, given a new, equally idiosyncratic lease of life. Elsewhere, Carl Craigs iconic At Les is taken in a looser direction, the overtones of euphoria cast in a different hue.
Theyre touchpoints which hint at interests in the different, diffuse corners of electronic music, and how they connect to jazz and improvisation. Coming to this project from the perspective of a DJ, producer and curator, its an album that shows his grasp of the bigger picture. This album shows him finding the threads which connect those different scenes together, exploring a to-and-fro between live, played instruments, and the possibilities found in laptops and samplers which has long been a backdrop to music aimed at dancefloors. (via Bandcamp)
Label: Brownswood Recordings
Format: 2x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Red, White
Country: UK
Reissued: Mar 22, 2024 / Original Release: Mar 7, 2018
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul
Style: Fusion, Contemporary Jazz
File under: Modern / Future Jazz
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.