Is There An Osaka Sound?

January 26, 2009 7:31 AM

I'd like an introduction to Japanese jazz/piano ambient. Where should I start? Who's great? Who should I avoid?
posted by Xurando to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

I am a fan of Keiko Matsui.
posted by netbros at 8:40 AM on January 26, 2009

Ryuichi Sakamoto is great!
posted by JamesMCS at 11:05 AM on January 26, 2009

I'm not sure what your looking for exactly, but I am a big fan of Japanese jazzy hip-hop, a lot of which is purely instrumental (lots of piano).

I highly recommend any album from the following artists,

Nujabes
Jemapur
Emancipator
Kenmochi Hidefumi
Uyama Hiroto
Ino Hidefumi
Kenichiro Nishihara
posted by robofunk at 11:21 AM on January 26, 2009

The best two Sakamoto albums to get for this IMO are "BTTB" (solo piano), "Chasm", and "Insen" (with Alva Noto)
posted by mkb at 12:31 PM on January 26, 2009

THREE albums. Jeez.
posted by mkb at 12:31 PM on January 26, 2009

Not entirely sure if the trumpet player (trumpest?) Toshinori Kondo is what you're looking for. He's best known in the states for collaborating with DJ Krush on his album Ki-Oku, but he's done plenty of notable jazz work too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0C2YXzY5v0&
posted by OrangeDrink at 1:23 PM on January 26, 2009

The wonderfully odd graceful ambient/jazz(ish) piano music of Combo Piano aka Takuma Watanabe (a brief sample from one of the early albums) -- particularly Agatha -- is great.
posted by finnb at 3:23 PM on January 26, 2009