About

Initially released in 1975, the album was initially overlooked up until recently, where it has been commanding fatuously high prices on discogs (recent sales have been upward of £1,000!)

Cat was recorded in October 1975 at Nippon Columbia Studio, while Hiroshi Suzuki was visiting his home country of Japan after moving to Las Vegas in 1971 to play with Buddy Rich. Back on his old stomping grounds, the man known as Neko (Cat)  reunited with his dear friends for an two day session . Clearly, the chemistry was still intact and his skills and style had flourished under Rich’s tutelage. Cat showcases a powerhouse of Japanese jazz musicians including Hiromasa Suzuki on keyboard, Kunimitsu Inaba and Takeru Muraoka on basses and Akira Ishikawa on skins.

The album is reflective broadly of the development of Jazz in the seventies, electric instrumentation and new, sophisticated recording techniques—particularly in Japan during this period—that give the recorded music a futuristic, crisp and clean feel. Ethereal, silvery Fender Rhodes bounce off against clunking, taught upright basslines, the interplay between the precision tightness of the drums and Suzuki’s superfluous ‘bone playing is marked; it is an shining example of Japanese Jazz-Funk-Fusion throughout.  - Soul Brother