When you think of Jazz, CNBLUE and Girls Generation are not the first names that pop to mind, since they are much more K-Pop than anything else. And yet, Lee Jong Hyun broke free from CNBLUE to do Moonlight Swing, a great upbeat Jazz track and one of the songs on his first solo album. Likewise, the 9 member Girls’ Generation begat Girls’ Generation-TTS, a subset of the band comprised of Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun. They produced an excellent EP comprised of jazz/rock ballads, of which my favorite track was Twinkle. These two songs are only a fraction of the excellent jazz South Korea has produced over the last century, so if you enjoy these be sure to explore its other wonderful offerings in this genre.
The Fishman Artist Embassy Series is a presentation of the DC Jazz Festival, which celebrates Jazz from around the world. Each participating embassy hosts a concert of one of their countries most celebrated Jazz artists in a series that runs from April to June, with this years contributors including Spain, France, Italy, and Japan. The Japanese contribution this time is the Mika Mimura Group with special guest Warren Wolf on Thursday, June 16th, playing at the Japan Information and Culture Center, which is the theater in the Japanese Embassy in Washington, DC. Tickets to see this (literally) world class band are only $15 a person, which is about half of what the valet would normally be tipped at such a concert in a major metropolis, so if you love Jazz and are close enough to make the show, do yourself a favor and be in the audience.
As a general rule, I am not in favor of having government agencies in control of music. One exception to that (there are others) is the series VOAs Beyond Category. In this presentation, we get to listen to the Jazz of John Pizzarelli, and learn a bit more about him and his musical heritage. The series has some of the most amazing Jazz and Blues artists playing today, and for once I am quite happy to have my tax dollars going to a project. Don’t stop at just one; explore the depth and range of this Voice of America show, they have a lot to offer.
I had an exhausting day at work today, which started at Midnight and ran until 30 minutes ago. So I am a bit crispy around the edges, and mostly want to relax. So I figured this might be a great day to post about the Nice Jazz Quintet, which is Jean-Louis Bompoint’s band. My guess is this is what he does to relax, since his day job is being a rather well known and respected Director of Photography. They sound like the kind of Jazz you can unwind to, so I am going to do that, and thought it would be nice to share a tune or two here. The first track is Manha De CarnavalL, the second is Blue Lou.
"BLUE LOU" – NICE JAZZ 5TET by NEMASCO
Dave Koz, Sergio Flores and Bob Saget surprised quite a few folks this year when they went along in a Lyft and made some holiday memories. The music was excellent and the attitude was world class; happy holidays, one and all!
One of the best, and therefor longest lasting, Ska bands from Japan is Tokyo Ska Paradise. The first track is Diamond In Your Heart released in July, the second is SUIKINKUTSU featuring the Piano goodness of Hiromi Uehara. The third song is Sky without Canary with Chibayuusuke of Thee Michelle Gun Elephant fame on vocals from 2009, and the final track of tonight’s collection is Chuosame Yoshie singing Cat Playing in the Twilight. If you like jazz, or ska, or big band, this is a group you want to pay attention to when they come your way.