Various – DJ Notoya Presents Funk Tide: Tokyo Jazz-Funk From Electric Bird’s Vaults 1978-87 LP

Description

LP version. A stylish selection of jazz-funk from Japanese label Electric Bird, selected byDJ Notoyaand featuringYasuaki Shimizu,Shunzo Ohno,Bobby Lyle,Toshiyuki Honda,Mikio Masuda,David Matthews, andRonnie Foster. Following the success of theTokyo Glowcompilation, Wewantsounds once again teams up with Japanese Tokyo-based DJ Notoya to dig the rich Electric Bird catalogue and come with a versatile selection of sunny jazz-funk gems recorded between 1978 and 1987 for the label. Most tracks make their vinyl debut outside of Japan and the album has been designed byOptigram/Manuel Sepulvedaand is annotated by DJ Notoya. Audio newly remastered in Tokyo by King Records. A sub-label from the venerable Japanese label King Records, Electric Bird was set up in 1977 to cater for the booming Nippon jazz funk audience that King — as the Japanese licensee for such US jazz labels at Blue Note or CTI — had grown for years. Taking advantage of their experience and the many contacts King had garnered through their American partners, Electric Bird, headed by in-house producerShigeyuki Kawashima, decided to apply the same formula to their new label. Kawashima began signing a new wave of jazz musicians from Japan, putting them in state-of-the-art Tokyo or New York studios and backing them with the best American and Japanese players in order to shape the slick, sun-drenched jazz funk sound that would be Electric Bird’s signature sound. WithFunk Tide, DJ Notoya aimed at showcasing the diversity of the label’s output, from the funky opener “In The Sky” by TrumpeterShunzo Ohnoto the sunshine mid-tempo groove of sax player Toshiyuki Honda’s “Living in a City” featuringPaulinho Da Costaon perc viaMikio Masuda‘s Fender Rhodes-infected “Let’s Get Together.” One ofFunk Tide‘s highlights is certainlyKatsutoshi Morizono‘s “Space Traveller” from 1978, a remake ofJames Vincent‘s eponymous cult classic recorded two years before with some ofEarth Wind And Fire‘s musicians and which has since become a favorite on the groove scene. Faithful to Vincent’s beautiful laid-back, breezy original, Morizono’s rendition add its own spice to it, and ending Notoya’s skilled selection of the cutting-edge Electric Bird label on a perfect note.