Wednesday, 1 June 2022

Sadao Watanabe, some fusion albums (1976 Recital, 1977 Autumn Blow, 1977 My Dear Life, 1977 Hunt Up Wind, 1978 California Shower, 1979 Morning Island, 1981 Orange Express, 1985 Tokyo Dating)

 













Obviously not to be confused with the other Watanabe, Kazumi. From discogs:

Born: 1st February 1933 in Tochigi Prefecture.
Renowned Japanese jazz musician playing alto saxophone, sopranino saxophone and flute is one of the pioneers of "Jap Jazz". Moved to Tokyo after graduating from high school and then, in 1962, moved to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music. He has released more than 50 albums and is also recognised as a talented photographer having produced six publications of his work.

This music is smooth in its commercial fusion, there are very few tracks worth hearing, at least in my opinion, making up for that is the fact he was unbelievably prolific in the late 70s era.  Nonetheless, the beauty shines through brightly in a track such as Inner Embrace from the Autumn Blow album, 1977:



From California Shower, 1979, another super-smooth fusion song, Turning Pages of Wind:



7 comments:

  1. bongohito1 June 2022 at 09:42

    be nice. there's *plenty* worth hearing here. 'recital' especially is anything but smooth or commercial. take the appropriate long view and survey his rewarding discography, cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Julianryan2 June 2022 at 13:53

    In two packages
    part one (Recital, Autumn Blow, My Dear Life, Hunt up Wind)
    https://www111.zippyshare.com/v/QcDV3MOJ/file.html

    part two (California Shower, Morning Island, Orange Express, Tokyo Dating)
    https://www98.zippyshare.com/v/THF78HKA/file.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Julianryan4 June 2022 at 03:56

      temporary link for non-zippys
      https://we.tl/t-wqVj3FhdAb

      Delete
  3. Tobias Funky3 June 2022 at 02:20

    Many thanks for sharing so many Japanese jazz gems. "Hunt up Wind" was a big track on the UK Jazz Funk scene but beyond that I've never really got into Sadao and often wondered if I've missing something with his albums. Looking forward to diving in and finding out!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Winter Hills13 June 2023 at 05:08

    A possible restore of the above links?
    Bless...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Winter Hills9 July 2023 at 17:27

    Might one Watanabe be confused with another Watanabe?
    May Sadao's titles be restored?
    Bless...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Julianryan10 July 2023 at 04:25

    https://wetransfer.com/downloads/b3c39763e884fbd32f0b55192f7b5a7b20230710111455/5ca1efd091685d7b42ea17f7c656db1120230710111455/cd7a1d?trk=TRN_TDL_01&utm_campaign=TRN_TDL_01&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendgrid

    ReplyDelete