If Ryo Fukui’s friends thought that his decision to teach himself to play the piano was bound to end in tears, they were soon proved wrong as he turned out to be a talented pianist. Instead, Ryo Fukui had just turned twenty-two in 1970, when he announced that he wanted to learn to play the piano, and was going to teach himself. Scenery (1976), an album by Ryo Fukui released by We Release Jazz/WRWTFWW Records.Ryo Fukui, who was born in Biratori, Hokkaido, in Japan, on the ‘1st’ of June 1948, was a late starter when it came to the piano and unlike most of the musicians he encountered during a career that spanned five decades, had never learnt to play the instrument as a child. Shortly before his death, his breathtaking solos in A Letter From Slowboat (2015) unfolds as a soulful love letter to his native home. His final recordings were made upon his final return to Sapporo, where he opened the Slowboat jazz club in 1995. Later chapters of his career were filled with travels, particularly to America where his mentor Barry Harris inspired some of his most exhilarating sessions. Ryo Fukui’s domain existed in likewise hidden institutions - historical venues such as the Shinjuku Pit Inn, Kichijoji’s Sometime, or Nagoya’s Jazz Inn Lovely. Some researchers estimate that Japan still has the largest portions of jazz listeners in the world, with an ongoing tradition of jazz kissa‘s: cozy listenings bars which ritualise the listening of LPs, much like enjoying a fine whisky. Where jazz was deemed initially controversial as foreign culture, its gradual importation and adaptation throughout the early 20th century allowed one of the most vibrant free jazz scenes to blossom by the 1960s. As showcased in Scenery’s effortless fusing of modal, bop and cool jazz, the city at the time was peaking with the cumulative influences of American music made throughout Japan’s post-war years. Scenery exemplifies the elevated levels of perfection sought out in Japanese jazz scenes, with the skills of its musicians pressurised under the intensity and intimacy of its venues. Though his story eventually reached the ears of several millions through internet algorithms, he was noticed scarcely by Western aficionados of his time. Since recording his second, Mellow Dream (1977), the following year, regular performances in important venues continued to sharpen his musical finesse until he began to perform and teach piano internationally. Ryo Fukui’s magnum opus was in fact his first release, a recording of his trio made after 6 years of living in Tokyo, away from his hometown. With the recent re-issuing of his coveted discography and rare live recordings by We Release Jazz (sister label of WRWTFWW, who previously re-issued several experimental Japanese rarities), as one of the most widely consumed jazz musicians of recent years, the rise of Ryo Fukui reflects a surging interest in the genre’s unique history in Japan. Through many moments both upbeat and serene, his immaculate instrumentation flows seamlessly, permanently leaving his personal mark as a self-taught musician. Courtesy of We Release Jazz/WRWTFWW Records.Ĭompletely under the radar until its miraculous recent online rediscovery, Sapporo-based pianist Ryo Fukui’s 1976 record Scenery has come to be seen as emblematic in jazz’s international history.
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