Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalo

Dynamic Latin Exotic Sound was recorded in 1972 by drummer Akira Ishikawa with Count Buffalo Latin Beats, a Latin edition of his Count Buffalo band, and released that year by Toshiba as a quadraphonic LP. Arrangements, piano and Hammond organ are by Naoya Matsuoka, a central figure of Latin jazz in Japan.

The repertoire comes from Cuba, Mexico, Brazil and Puerto Rico: Margarita Lecuona's Taboo and Babalu, Guantanamera, Rafael Hernández's El Cumbanchero, Ary Barroso's Bahia, Roberto Menescal's O Barquinho, Historia de un Amor, Angelitos Negros, Frenesi and Xavier Cugat's Nightingale, with Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man in the middle of the second side.

Matsuoka treats the songs as material for a jazz-rock band rather than a dance orchestra. Taboo opens on a low, heavy bass line and overdriven guitar, O Barquinho is a conversation between organ and tenor saxophone, Watermelon Man runs on fuzz and wah-wah guitar, and Historia de un Amor rests on a piano melody over a steady cowbell pulse.

Japanese reissue by Universal Music on clear yellow vinyl.