Ryo Fukui

Review: Last month, Swiss label WRWTFWW debuted their new We Release Jazz offshoot by reissuing Ryo Fukui's sought-after 1976 debut album, Scenery. Here, they serve up a fresh pressing - re-mastered at half speed to ensure greater sound quality - of the late Japanese jazz pianist's 1977 follow-up, Mellow Dream. It remains a standout set, with Fukui moving between beautiful solo improvisations ("Mellow Dream"), heart-aching downtempo jazz ("My Foolish Heart", the impeccable "What's New"), jaunty up-tempo workouts ("Baron Potato Blues") and the kind of full-throttle affairs that are capable of taking your breath away (album highlight "Horizon", which contains a killer double bass solo amongst its driving jazz-dance rhythms and bold piano figures). Fukui's solo cover of jazz standard "My Funny Valentine" is also superb.