About

"Mule Musiq has announced a reissue of jazz pianist Fumio Itabashi's 1982 album Watarase. Mule compares Itabashi's playing to Keith Jarrett's on the landmark live LP The Köln Concert. The Japanese label has remastered the record, Itabashi's second solo piano full-length, for a reissue. Watarase kicks off with Itabashi's version of the jazz standard "Someday My Prince Will Come," and the album also includes interpretations of material by South African pianist Dollar Brand and Russian-American composer Vernon Duke. Itabashi surfaced on Mule back in 2010, playing keys on Henrik Schwarz & Kuniyuki's "Once Again." The trio will reconvene for a new version of "Watarase" to celebrate the reissue."– Resident Advisor

“That Fumio Itabashi’s Wikipedia entry is a sparse four sentences long is a disservice to his years of playing in Japan’s evergreen jazz scene. Championed by renowned world music DJ Gilles Peterson, Itabashi’s work has been recently reissued by the Tokyo label Mule Music. Recorded at Nippon Columbia in 1981 and originally released in 1982, Watarase showcases the piano virtuoso in fine form. With a style that exhibits a constant push and pull between the heavily rhythmic and sweetly melodic, this solo piano outing is consistently driven by his willingness to jump into whatever idea pops into his head with just enough confidence to pull it off.

Itabashi is playful and at ease as he slowly warms into a tight groove around “Someday My Prince Will Come.” With a deft touch, he sets chiming melodies off like chain reactions, each one sparkling brightly before a lightning fast downward run of notes appear to offset the calm. After a teasing intro of pounding trills, Itabashi loosely slides into the main melody in an almost sly fashion — his subtly casual approach belying a keen ear for wrapping compact segments of melody into bursts of energetic and quick fills that can come on with jaw-dropping speed. Itabashi tackles another jazz standard, Vernon Duke’s “I Can’t Get Started,” with a similar gusto as he cooly approaches the song’s laidback melody.” – Spectrum Culture

Item description: