Jazz /
Sunshower
Kosuke Mine’s electric album, with a strong rock and funk flavor, is set for reissue as part of "Spin This Now!" Vol. 9. This classic album shines with the outstanding combination of Mine’s saxophone with a wah-wah pedal and Mikio Masuda’s psychedeli…
Hip Dancin'
A classic album recorded in 1976, featuring a superb lineup including Sam Jones, Kazumi Watanabe, and Fumio Karashima, with expansive cello solos. Highlights include an exhilarating duo number with the seasoned bassist Sam Jones, as well as Kazumi Wa…
Life
World-famous pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto’s second East Wind release, "Life," appears in the lineup for "Spin This Now!" Vol. 9. Backed by a golden rhythm section with Sam Jones on bass and Billy Higgins on drums, Yamamoto delivers a supremely swinging …
Lost Mist
The debut album from a free jazz piano trio founded by up-and-coming drummer Masatsugu Hattori, featuring pianist Nana Omori and bassist Masashi Kato, the album includes seven tracks that span free jazz and ambient/electro.
Alpha Ray
Norio Maeda ignites this trio date with raw, thrilling momentum — one of his most electrifying records. Stripped-down and urgent, the music bursts with kinetic energy: tight, swinging interplay that sparks like vintage 60s bossa bands yet barrels in …
Our Time
Killer jazz-funk from Japan here! Since turning professional in 1960, guitarist Kiyoshi Sugimoto had been active in many sessions and recordings. From the latter half of the 1960s, he joined groups with Hideo Shiraki, Akira Ishikawa, and Terumasa Hin…
One More
Skilled guitar dances over the ultimate groove by Marcus Miller and Omar Hakim. This important Japanese fusion album was recorded by guitarist Kiyoshi Sugimoto, who was extremely busy at the time as a first-call musician, together with Marcus Miller,…
Mana
The treasure of Japan’s jazz scene and its most formidable drummer, Takeo Moriyama, drives out a powerful, intense beat. This important work — recorded in April 1994 and the catalyst for Moriyama’s comeback — is being released on vinyl for the first …
Yamame
Jazz saxophonist Akira Miyazawa was known for his unparalleled love of fishing, and here he gives a masterful performance that conjures the image of silvery fish scales reflecting light through the cold and clear water of a small mountain stream. “Ya…
We Now Create - Music For Strings, Winds And Percussion
A pivotal masterpiece by Masahiko Togashi, Masayuki Takayanagi, Mototeru Takagi, and Motoharu Yoshizawa is set to be reissued as the eighth release in the Spin This Now! series
Onjo
*2005 release. 2026 stock* Kahimi Karie and Mariko Hamada guest as two vocalists on this orchestral work, which marks a dramatic advance from ONJQ. Its many scenes—sometimes hushed, sometimes intense—integrate (and disperse) every sonic possibility—j…
Bluffs II
*2006 release, 2026 stock* This is a work that proves the worth of the trio that kept the group alive for 16 years, and at the same time captures a miraculous performance that’s hard to believe was entirely improvised — they went into the studio with…
Adena Quartet
*2026 stock* Very special quartet of Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Keisuke Ohta, Shinobu Kawai, Akira Sotoyama. This is real free music from Japan.
Meteor Driver
*2026 stock* The first duo work by Koichi Makigami and Masataka Fujikake. It contains 9 songs recorded live, all improvised. An improvised sound scroll made up of titles full of mysterious sounds with fantastical and unique ideas. The title song, "Me…
Sky And Future
*2026 stock* This is the Big Band version by Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band (OSBB) of the 48-minute suite "Sora to Mirai to," written entirely for this performance. "Sora to Mirai to" was originally composed at the request of conductor Yutaka Sado …
Live At Cafe OTO 2024
*2026 stock* A precious documentary capturing Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band’s (OSBB) first European tour. It’s their first live release in ten years.
Formed in 2013, OSBB has performed concerts and live shows, contributed scores for productions in…
Be-Bop '82
*2026 stock* The title says it: a deliberate, joyful return to bebop fundamentals from the Kenji Mori quintet, recorded at a moment when the language could already feel like a stylistic choice rather than a default. By 1982 the Japanese jazz scene ha…
Gallery
*2026 stock* Toshiyuki Miyama led The New Herd for decades, one of the most important and most adventurous Japanese big bands of the post-war period, and the working ensemble through which a remarkable number of Japanese composers and arrangers found…
Sunday Thing
*2026 stock* Another date from Toshiyuki Miyama's New Herd for Three Blind Mice, and a strong candidate for the band's most accessible single record. Sunday Thing leans into the warmer, more groove-conscious end of the New Herd's repertoire: there ar…
Mari Nakamoto III
*2026 stock* The third album from singer Mari Nakamoto for Three Blind Mice, and the one that pushes hardest at the conventions of mainstream vocal jazz. The line-up is the giveaway: alongside Nakamoto's voice, the record places bassist Isao Suzuki a…