Protag love, Japanese style

Check out this review of the Jazz Protagonists album Blizz Blazz, on a Japanese site. It starts with, we think, a restaurant review, then has our CD reviewed in orange.

寛いだピアノ・トリオ、スウィングしてて非常に気持ち良いですね、THE JAZZ PROTAGONISTS 「BLIZZ BLAZZ」。何で買おうと思ったんだっけな、、、寺島さん絡みだったかな、よく覚えていませんが、ジャケットを見てコレは多分来るんじゃないか、と思ったのは確かです。センター奥に居るベーシストの表情が何ともヨロシイ、ソレとジャケットのレイアウト、単純にカッコいいですよね！音を感じさせるとでも言うか、少なくとも女性の裸を載せれば、どうよ？っていう、カッコ悪いレーベルのダサいジャケとは違いましたな。
音を聴いてみるとオリジナルで固めていて、しかも伝わる演奏の雰囲気はとてもリラックス、美旋律で印象付けて後は適当、というタイプじゃない、BARRY BRAKEなるピアニスト、なかなかやるね。
KUPERというのは本作のドラマー、明らかにピアニストのBRAKEとは好みが違うように感じます、BRAKEさんはもっと王道、メロディが歌い、スウィンギーな中でもスリリングな山場を意識させられます。KUPERさんは現代感覚を持ち合わせていて、８曲目ではファンキーで楽しい雰囲気を披露していますが、９曲目ではリズムだけ最初に決めるから後は自由に展開していこう的なスポンテニアスなパターン、作曲したと言うよりは３人で組み立てていった感じですね。この曲だけ何となく異質なんです。BRAKEさんの曲ではちょいと黒い感じが心地良い４曲目の小唄、テーマ、アドリヴ共に小気味良くてアーシーな５曲目が光ります。

The auto-translate results are, though hilarious, impossible to understand. Our friend Ansel, though, has just dispatched a roughly sketched translation. Thanks, Ansel!

A relaxed piano trio, swingin' and super feel-good - The Jazz Protagonists, "Blizz Blazz". Why did I decide to buy this, again... It might have been something Mr. Terajima-related, I don't really remember, but what I do know is that I felt it was probably coming with me when I looked at the cover. The bassist in the rear center's expression was quite pleasant; that, and the cover layout was simplistic, in a cool way! You could maybe say that it makes you feel the sound, or at the very least, it was different from those pathetic covers from those lame labels that are like, "Hey, whaddya say we put a naked lady on the front?"

Listening to it, it was original and solid, not to mention the atmosphere conveyed by the performance was very relaxed; melodic and impressive, and also proper, seems like that's the type he is, the pianist Barry Brake, he does a surprisingly good job.

The album's drummer, Kuper, clearly seems to have different tastes than the pianist, Brake: Mr. Brake is more classical, with a singing melody, and brings you to a swingy, thrilling climax point. Mr. Kuper possesses a more present-day feeling; in track 8 he presents a funky, fun feeling, while in track 9 he brings out the rhythm right away, then seems to ad-lib it freely with spontaneous patterns, almost as though the song was assembled by them on the fly, rather than being written. This track seemed to be the odd one out. In Mr. Brake's songs, the slightly dark-feeling, soothing poetry in track 4, the theme, and the earthy track 5 which was both improvisational and zestful, all really shine.