Street Jazz from Kano, Saito, Kawamoto

I've seen this good, energetic "Street Jazz" trio at JR Shinjuku before, but today I waited for a good moment and got some materials from them. The musicians were George Kano on drums, Chikara Saito on Alto Sax, and (probably) Sousuke Kawamoto on upright bass. The flyers I got were pretty clear on who the sax and drum players were, but I'm not so sure about the bass player. Either way, they are all really good musicians.

As a drummer myself, I was really impressed with George. He's got a lightweight kit that he can probably pack in one or two relatively small bags, with roto-toms, the sound of which of course reminds me of the Bridgemen and of Bill Bruford.

iPhone Recordings

They were jamming along, so I whipped out the iPhone and snagged a couple of recordings which I hope you enjoy. The top one's Dizzy Gillespie's A Night in Tunisia and I'm afraid I cannot remember the second one. I've heard it before, and at first it sounded a bit like Hancock's Watermelon Man but I think it's not. (If you know, let me know!)

Websites

Their flyers had a whole bunch of websites on them, which are all in Japanese. From looking at the sites, it appears these cats play in various combinations. At any rate, here's a few useful links for them in Japanese:

• Mixi Community "STREET Jazz" [1]
• Drummer Kano George's Personal Site and iDep Site
• Alto Sax Player Chikara Saito's ElectricRicky Site
• Bassist Sousuke Kawamoto's Personal Site and Alabama Crossover Site

Recommendations

Guys if you'll indulge me for a moment, it takes skill to play as fast and furious as you do, but it also takes huge skill to play slow. Dig "When We Were Free" from Pat Metheny's Day Trip. The musicians can and do stretch in this tune but the basic tempo is really easy-going.

Also, please ditch the long, complicated URLs on your flyers. Sorry, but this sort of URL is absurd to make someone enter:

http://ip.tosp.co.jp/i.asp?i=kanogeorge

... because it's too complex. You want to let your potential listeners enter something really simple. Use an URL shortener like TinyURL or Bitly to create permanent, short URLs. I created two from George's site:

http://tinyurl.com/kanogeorge

http://bit.ly/kanogeorge

Please consider using those, and keep up the great playing!

[1] Mixi is a Japanese SNS.

Saboten no Hana Lyrics - Kazuo Zaitsu

Kazuo Zaitsu (kanji: 財津和夫) of the Japanese band Tulip, is the singer of a favorite song of mine, "Saboten no Hana" or The Cactus Flower, which is a song about hope despite love lost. It was the theme song of an enormously popular 1993 drama called "Hitotsu Yane no Shita" or Under One Roof. Zaitsu san has a unique and pleasant voice that I like, and this song always brings a tear to my eye. The song features a simple piano solo in the bass register, which to me is the man's sad voice mixed with hope.

I thought I'd translate the lyrics so others could understand it too. You can see Zaitsu san sing it and see some stills from the drama on YouTube.

Saboten no Hana サボテンの花

ほんの小さな出来事に　愛は傷ついて

Hon no, chiisana, dekigoto ni, ai wa, kizu tsuite

君は部屋をとびだした　真冬の空の下に

Kimi wa, heya wo, tobi dashita, mafuyu no sora no shita ni

編みかけていた手袋と　洗いかけの洗濯物

Ami kaketeita tebukuro to, arai kake no sentaku mono

シャボンの泡が揺れていた

Shabon no awa ga yureteita

君の香りが揺れてた

Kimi no, kaori ga, yureteta

The smallest things, can damage love

You ran out of our room, mid-winter

There's the gloves you were knitting, and some undone wash

The bubbles were drifting

Your scent was drifting

たえまなく降りそそぐ　この雪のように

Taemanaku, furisosogu, kono yuki no you ni

君を愛せば良かった

Kimi wo aiseba yokatta

窓に降りそそぐ　この雪のように

Mado ni furisosogu, kono yuki no you ni

二人の愛は流れた

Futari no ai wa nagareta

Like this everlasting, driven snow

I should have loved you

Like this snow runs down the window

Our love ran away

思い出詰まったこの部屋を　僕も出て行こう

Omoide tsumatta kono heya wo, boku mo dete yukou

ドアに鍵をおろした時　なぜか涙がこぼれた

Doa ni kagi wo oroshita toki, nazeka namida ga koboreta

君が育てたサボテンは　小さな花をつくった

Kimi ga sodateta saboten wa, chiisana hana wo tsukutta

春はもうすぐそこまで　恋は今終わった

Haru wa mou sugu soko made, koi wa ima owatta

I think I'll leave this room, full of memories.

When I latch the door, for some reason I cried

The cactus you had been nurturing, grew a small flower

Spring's just around the corner, but our love is over now

この長い冬が終わるまでに

Kono nagai fuyu ga owaru made ni

何かを見つけて生きよう

Nanika o mitsukete ikiyou

何かを信じて生きてゆこう

Nanika wo shinjite ikite yukou

この冬が終わるまで

Kono fuyu ga owaru made

Until this long winter ends

I think I'll find a reason to live

I think I'll find something to believe

Until the end of this winter

この長い冬が終わるまでに

Kono nagai fuyu ga owaru made ni

何かを見つけて生きよう

Nanika o mitsukete ikiyou

何かを信じて生きてゆこう

Nanika wo shinjite ikite yukou

この冬が終わるまで

Kono fuyu ga owaru made

ララー...

Raraa...

Until this long winter ends

I think I'll find a reason to live

I think I'll find something to believe

Until the end of this winter

La la etc...

I hope you enjoy it, and find hope in your life like Zaitsu san's cactus flower.

RIP Kiyoshiro Imawano

Kiyoshiro Imawano, the hugely-popular lead singer of RC Succession died of lymphatic disease at the age of 59. He'll be dearly missed. One of their hits, "Ameagari no Yozora ni" is representative of his music, and you can hear it on YouTube. I thought I'd translate the lyrics to it. The original Japanese is followed by romanized Japanese, followed by my English approximation. It's full of double-meanings, of course.

Ameagari no Yozora ni 雨あがりの夜空に

この雨にやられてエンジンいかれちまった

Kono Ame ni Yararete, Engine ikarechimatta

おいらのポンコツとうとうつぶれちまった

Oira no ponkotsu toutou tuburechimatta

どうしたんだ　HEY HEY BABY, バッテリーはびんびんだぜ

Doushitanda Hey Hey Baby, Battery wa binbin daze

いつものようにきめてぶっとばそうぜ

Itumonoyouni kimete buttobasouze

My engine's dead from all this rain

My junker's finally died

What's the matter, hey hey baby, the battery's fine

Lookin' cool like always, let's drive it hard

そりゃあひどい乗り方したこともあった

Sorya hidoi norikata shitakoto mo atta

だけどそんなときにもお前はシッカリ

Dakedo, sonna tokinimo omaewa shikkari

どうしたんだ　HEY HEY BABY, 機嫌直してくれよ　

Doushitanda Hey Hey Baby, Kigen naoshitekureyo

いつものようにキメてブッ飛ばそうぜ

Itsumonoyouni kimete buttobasouze

I rode you hard sometimes

But even then you toughed it out

What's the matter, hey hey baby, why don't you cheer up?

Lookin' cool like always, let's drive it hard

OH！ どうぞ勝手に降ってくれ　ぽしゃるまで

Oh! Douzo katteni kudattekure, posharumade

WOO！ いつまで続くのか見せてもらうさ

Woo! Itsumade tsuzukunoka misetemorausa

こんな夜にお前に乗れないなんて

Konna yoruni omaeni norenai nante

こんな夜に発車できないなんて

Konna yoruni hassha dekinai nante

Oh! Go ahead, fall apart til' you're a wreck

Woo! I'll see how long I can ride you

I can't believe I can't ride you tonight

I can't believe I can't blast off tonight

こんなこといつまでも永くはつづかない

Konna koto itsumademo nagakuwa tsuzukanai

いいかげん明日のこと考えたほうがいい

Iikagen ashita no koto kangaetahouga ii

どうしたんだ　HEY HEY BABY お前までそんなこと言うの？

Doushitanda Hey Hey Baby, Omaemade sonna koto iu no?

いつものようにキメてぶっ飛ばそうぜ

Itumono youni kimete buttobasouze

This sort of thing won't continue too long

You gotta think about tomorrow

What's the matter, hey hey baby, are you gonna say that too?

Lookin' cool like always, let's drive it hard

OH！ 雨あがりの夜空に輝く

Oh! Ameagari no yozorani kagayaku

WOO! 雲の切れ間にちりばめたダイヤモンド

Woo! Kumo no kirema ni chiribameta diamond

こんな夜におまえにのれないなんて

Konna yoruni omaeni norenai nante

こんな夜に発車できないなんて

Konna yoruni hassha dekinai nante

Oh! They shine in the night sky after the rain

Woo! The diamonds in the breaks in the clouds

I can't believe I can't ride you tonight

I can't believe I can't blast off tonight

お前についてるラジオ 感度最高

Omae ni tsuiteru radio kando saikou

すぐにいい音させてどこまでも飛んでく

Suguni iioto sasete dokomademo tondeku

Your radio's so sensitive

You make great sounds soon and fly away

どうしたんだ　HEY HEY BABY, バッテリーはびんびんだぜ

Doushitanda Hey Hey Baby, Battery wa binbin daze

いつものようにきめてぶっとばそうぜ

Itumonoyouni kimete buttobasouze

What's the matter, hey hey baby, the battery's fine

Lookin' cool like always, let's drive it hard

OH！ 雨上がりの夜空に流れる

Oh! Ameagari no yozorani nagareru

WOO！ ジンライムのようなお月様

Woo! Gin Lime no youna otsuki sama

こんな夜におまえにのれないなんて

Konna yoruni omaeni norenai nante

こんな夜に発車できないなんて

Konna yoruni hassha dekinai nante

Oh! It drifts in the night sky after the rain

Woo! The moon like a gin lime

I can't believe I can't ride you tonight

I can't believe I can't blast off tonight

こんな夜におまえにのれないなんて

Konna yoruni omaeni norenai nante

こんな夜に発車できないなんて

Konna yoruni hassha dekinai nante

I can't believe I can't ride you tonight

I can't believe I can't blast off tonight

Buttobase in heaven, Kiyoshiro. RIP!