Igor91
Hiromasa Suzuki's Rock Joint Biwa is one of the great, obscure jazz rock / fusion albums to emerge out of 1970's Japan. The LP offers up an interesting combination of jazz, psychedelic rock, and traditional Japanese instrumentation (biwa, wadaiko). The results are impressive, unique, and never boring. The psychedelic factor is moderate, but is enough to push the music into mind-stimulating directions. All the musicians deliver fantastic performances, particularly the guitar work of Kiyoshi Sugimoto. He can do jazz and heavy psych with equal impact and style. The injections of traditional Japanese music is masterfully done, and never feels forced or awkward. Being a big fan of early 1970's fusion, this was an enjoyable listen for me. I have been exploring the Japanese branch of this sub-genre, and this was a great find. I highly recommend this album to like-minded travelers. I will be searching out an affordable CD copy of Suzuki's following album, Rock Joint Cither – Silk Road, which is another lost fusion gem.