About

A TAV Essential Listening Album.

A box set consisting of the following highly acclaimed “Great Three” albums from Japan’s Three Blind Mice label:

• Isao Suzuki Trio / Quartet – Blow Up
• Yamamoto Tsuyoshi Trio – Midnight Sugar
• Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio – Misty

“Finally available again after an all-too-brief release by BoxStar Records in 2012, the Three Blind Mice 45-RPM Box is the highly desirable collection of three Tee Fujii's most popular LPs (Misty, Midnight Sugar, and Blow Up) in one awesome package. You know the story: one pressing comes out and then *poof* they're gone. Never to be heard from again. Original preorders were never filled and when word got out how amazing these sides sounded, prices shot up online on eBay, et al. Due to our close affiliation with Three Blind Mice, dating back to the 1990's, we have worked dilligently to not only bring these audiophile classics back, but to do so in a super-deluxe way.

We've pressed the LPs from the original stampers, preserving the original sonic magnificance while presenting the three LP sets in top-quality packaging. The jackets follow the original Cisco/TBM 45's of 2003 but have been cleaned up, clarified and color-corrected to original glory. The labels now match the accent color of the jackets. We have included a 4 page insert with archival photographs and a new essay by esteemed radio personality (and life-long audio enthusiasist) Tom Schnabel ("Rhythm Planet, KCRW 89.9, Los Angeles). Topping it all, literally, is a new lift-top box with black lining and special spot UV coating.

If you missed out on the opportunity to own this seminal set when first available, you now can treat your ears to the finest in Japanese jazz in a super-deluxe set that is sure to please. Don't miss out this time!” – Impex Records

The first part of the Three Blind Mice "Great Three" is bassist/cellist Isao Suzuki's inventive, hard-swinging debut Blow Up.  This adventurous set finds Suzuki and his band mates (drummer George Otsuka, pianist Kunihiko Sugano, and bassist Takashi Mizuhashi) working through three originals and three classic standards ("Everything Happens To Me", "Like It Is", and "I Can't Get Started"), merging classic hard bop principles with unusual touches (scratching cello and found percussion sweeps on "Aqua Marine"), all captured with the kind of supreme fidelity Three Blind Mice would later be heralded for.

The middle member of the Three Blind Mice "Great Three" is the debut headline performance by leg-endary Japanese pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, Midnight Sugar. This sweet and low session, recorded mere five months before his masterpiece Misty, creates a bewitching mood of late night rambling and soulful yearning. No one in Tee Fujii's circle of fine players better exemplifed the style and substance of the Three Blind Mice sound and it is evident here in Yamamoto's first try. Stunning dynamics, wide soundstaging, and idiosyncratic interpretations make Midnight Sugar an enjoyable introduction into the deep world of Japanese jazz. Yamamoto and drummer Tetsujiro Obara and bassist Isoo Fukui make musical poetry of three classic standards ("I'm a Fool to Want You", "The Nearness of You", and "It Could Happen to You"), while introducing Yamamoto's own compositional genius with "Sweet Georgia Blues" and the title track, all captured with the kind of supreme fidelity Three Blind Mice would later be heralded for.

The third part of the Three Blind Mice "Great Three" Misty is perhaps the most renowned, the most accomplished. The best-selling title in Tee Fujii's legendary canon, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto's trio starts out slow and quiet and picks up speed, nuance, and dynamic propulsion throughout the seven varied compositions here. Yamamoto shows his "heavy right hand" throughout, captured with fine detail and explosive level by engineer Yoshihiko Kannari, lending a verisimilitude that has rarely--if ever--been equaled. This Swinging affair finds Yamamoto and his band mates (drummer Tetsujiro Obara and bassist Isoo Fukui) meld into one cohesive whole, playing for and against one another in a swirling cloud of color and sound.

Musicians:

Blow-Up:

• Isao Suzuki, bass & cello
• Kunihiko Sugano, piano
• Takashi Mizuhashi, bass
• George Otsuka, drums

Misty & Midnight Sugar:

• Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, piano
• Isoo Fukui, bass
• Tetsujiro Obara, drums

Features:

• 180g 45rpm 6LP box set
• Mastered by Tohru Kotetsu & Kevin Gray
• Pressed at RTI
• Deluxe four-color insert with session photos & brand new notes by Tom Schnabel
• Limited copies

Tracklist:

Album 1 - Isao Suzuki Trio / Quartet – Blow Up

A1. Aqua Marine

A2. Everything Happens To Me

B1. Blow Up

C1. Like It Is

C2. I Can't Get Started

D1. Low Flight

 

Album 2 - Yamamoto Tsuyoshi Trio – Midnight Sugar

A1. Midnight Sugar

B1. I'm A Fool To Want You

C1. The Nearness of You

D1. It Could Happen To You

D2. Sweet Georgia Blues

 

Album 3 - Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio – Misty

A1. Misty

B1. Blues

B2. Yesterdays

C1. Honeysuckle Rose

C2. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

D1. I Didn't Know What Time It Was

D2. Angel Eyes

 

About the Three Blind Mice label:

“Three Blind Mice is a Japanese jazz record label founded in June 1970 as a showcase for Japan's emerging jazz performers. It has produced more than 130 albums have been released since. So far they have won the Jazz Disc Award five times in Japan. Produced by Takeshi Fujii and often recorded by the Yoshihiko Kannari, TBM created jazz records by Japanese players since the 1970s and became known for its audiophile sound quality. TBM's records captured a very important, vibrant era in the development of Japanese jazz. Stars like Isao Suzuki, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, George Kawaguchi, Terumasa Hino and Mari Nakamoto recorded their very first albums with the label. Artists also include Shuko Mizuno's "Jazz Orchestra '73", Toshiyuko Miyama and Masaru Imada.” – Wiki

About Impex Records:
“Impex Records is the exciting audiophile label from the team that brought you Cisco Music. With more than 20 years experience and 150 titles released, Cisco Music developed many of the techniques used by other labels to make higher quality 180-gram LPs, SACDs and Gold and aluminum CDs. We brought definitive editions Jennifer Warnes' The Well, The Hunter and Famous Blue Raincoat in multiple formats, including a 45 rpm box set that Absolute Sound magazine declared "defines the state-of-the--art in vinyl playback." Other classic reissues we nurtured to fantastic rebirths include the jazz-rock perfection of Steely Dan's Aja, Joan Baez' Farewell Angelina, NathanMilstein's poetic interpretation of Dvorak's Violin Concerto and four exquisite 45-rpm Three Blind Mice LPs. Even in our humbler origins we were trusted with the distribution and production of The Super Analogue Disc, the original audiophile 180-gram LPs. King Records recognized, from the very beginning, that Cisco Music brought unflinching passion to the music and unflailing dedication to the process of bringing that music to the most discerning listeners in the world.” – Impex Records

Item description:        

Artist:	Isao Suzuki Trio / Quartet, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio ‎
Title:	The Three Blind Mice 45 Box
Label:	Impex Records / Three Blind Mice
Format:	6 × Vinyl, LP, 45 RPM, Limited Edition, Box Set
Pressing:	US
Release Date:	2015
Genre:	Jazz
Style:	Soul-Jazz, Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz
Catalog No:	IMP 6022-45
Condition:	New