Trio/Octave Lab Japan Vinyl & CDs

Review: Despite eventually becoming one of Japanese jazz's most lauded pianists, Ryo Fukui didn't release many albums in his lifetime. Aside from Scenery, the dazzling 1976 debut of his Sapporo-based trio, none are quite as celebrated as In New York. Recorded with the help of sidemen Lisle A Atkinson (bass) and Leroy Williams (drums) at the Avatar studio in NYC in February 1999, it sees Fukui deliver dazzling, piano-driven interpretations of some of his jazz favourites (Charlie Parker's 'Hot House', Duke Ellington's 'Red Carpet' and George Gershwin's 'Embraceable You' included). Fukui's self-taught piano skills were incredible, no doubt, and it's the expressiveness and fluidity of his playing that shines through. It's perhaps fitting, though, that the album's standout moment is a version of his own 'Mellow Dream', arguably Fukui's most celebrated composition.