Toshiba-emi Satisfies Yen For Club Culture

Japan has long been a key jazz market, and the latest demonstration of the continued support of the genre by Japanese labels and music fans comes from Toshiba-EMI's strategic marketing division. Between March and June, it will launch the first 15 installments in a new series of jazz releases called "Club 2001."

Toshiba-EMI recently struck a licensing deal with New York label ropeadope, which specializes in such jam-band/turntablist acts as DJ Logic. "The theme of 'Club 2001' is danceable jazz," explains Yoshimitsu Harashima, GM of Toshiba-EMI's strategic marketing division's third A&R department. "This is music that has originated in the club scene."

Harashima says the music recalls the acid jazz movement of a few years back, but draws on a wider variety of musical sources. Another key difference, he says, is that the jam bands featured on labels like ropeadope are exactly that: bands—real, functioning performance units—and not the product of studio wizardry.

"It's a very interesting time for jazz," says Harashima. "These bands are great live performers, and because of their jazz influences, they know how to ad-lib, how to improvise."

New titles in the "Club 2001" release campaign include An Ordinary Day in an Unusual Place by Us3, who scored a major 1991 crossover hit with "Cantaloop," based on Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island"; Dance Lesson by Karl Denson; Doin' Something by trio Soulive; The Anomaly by DJ Logic; and Live at Toshi's by Pat Martino. As part of the campaign, Toshiba-EMI is also reissuing several classic Blue Note albums in 24-bit remastered versions.

Another Japanese company that is currently active on the jazz front is Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ). One of the most eagerly anticipated upcoming releases on SMEJ's SME label is DNA, the new album by trumpeter Terumasa Hino. Joining Hino on DNA are pianist Sir Roland Hanna, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Five of the 10 songs are Hino compositions, with another, "It's There," written by the leader's late younger brother, drummer Motohiko Hino. DNA is released June 20 in Japan.

"Terumasa Hino is one of the best trumpeters—or, better yet, one of the best musicians—that I have worked with in many years," says Hanna. "His recording session with Jack DeJohnette, Ron Carter, and me went like we had been working together on a string of one-nighters."

Besides established artists such as Hino and vocalist Keiko Lee, SME's jazz roster also includes exciting newcomer Toku, who excels both as a vocalist and as a flugelhorn player.