Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalo

“An ambitious, brand new album has reached the Japanese jazz scene. It is ‘Bakimba – Memories of Africa.’” This is how Akira Ishikawa Count Buffalo Jazz And Rock Band’s album was advertised by the Japanese press in 1970.

The Japanese jazz artists were bravely approaching the rock scene, and their choice became an inspiration to jazz-rock groups like Takeshi Inomata & Sound Limited, Jiro Inagaki and Soul Media, and more. The blending between jazz and rock was born in the United States, thanks to Miles Davis and orchestras like Blood Sweat and Tears and Chicago. This movement resulted in the empowerment of jazz and in the birth of a new musical genre: a perfect mix of jazz, latin influences, and rock.

Akira Ishikawa and Count Buffalo’s jazz-rock band remind of Santana in the way they embody these energies in their album “Bakimba.” Yet, at the same time, they give life to even more impressive musical compositions. This is also thanks to Hiromasa Suzuki’s innovative electric piano.

Often defined as a jazz-rock band, Count Buffalo scales new heights in the context of jazz thanks to the strong rock influences that characterize this work.