Full reissue of the 1982 seminal album from Japanese musician, Ryo Kawasaki.
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Includes unlimited streaming of Lucky Lady [RSD 2021 Reissue]
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Over the course of his near 50-year career, jazz guitarist Ryo Kawasaki released some of the most imaginative, inventive and in some cases unusual music ever to emerge from Japan. Amongst the most impressive of these was 1983 album, Lucky Lady, a breathlessly brilliant and musically eclectic set that saw Kawasaki push the boundaries of both jazz and the rapidly evolving sound of electronic music.
The album sleeve artwork is the original artwork and the images are photos of Ryo’s daughter and the album was something he created as a dedication to her.
By the standards of the time, Lucky Lady was exceptionally cutting edge. Kawasaki had previously used synthesisers in his work and had a reputation for being technically savvy enough to modify any instruments he could get his hands on. When Roland sent him prototypes of their GR-500 and GS-500 guitar synthesizers, the Japanese firm including schematic drawings and blueprints to make modification easier.
Kawasaki took up the challenge, creating his own guitar synthesizer that featured different elements from both models. This one-of-a-kind unit, supplemented by the then brand-new TR-808 drum machine, TB-303 bass synthesizer and CS-600Q analogue sequencer, provided Kawasaki with all the tools he needed to create the backing tracks that sit beneath his virtuoso guitar solos on Lucky Lady.
Before he passed away in April 2020, Kawasaki granted permission to NuNorthern Soul to rummage through he back catalogue and reissue selected tracks and albums. Phil Cooper’s imprint has already released two essential EPs of selected career highlights and will next offer-up a brand-new pressing of Lucky Lady. The re-mastered album will come accompanied by detailed liner notes from both Kawasaki, penned just months before he passed away, and experienced music journalist Marc Rowlands.
Lucky Lady remains a startling and hugely entertaining piece of work that defies easy categorisation. While the focus point throughout remains Kawasaki’s dazzling, improvised guitar solos, it’s the music that sits beneath them that sounds so far-sighted. Almost entirely electronic, it takes cues from the hip-hop and dance scenes Kawasaki was surrounded by in New York, as well as the cold futurism of Kraftwerk, the other-worldly synth-pop of Japanese contemporaries Yellow Magic Orchestra, and – more surprisingly – the very specific shuffle of Jamaican dub reggae (the sunny synth-jazz of ‘Sophisticated Lady’).
Yet the album’s genius lies not in Kawasaki’s inspirations, but rather how he turned these into tracks that still sound like they were beamed down from another dimension. His bass-lines, crafted on a TB-303, frequently sound like the blueprint for those later found in early Chicago house (for proof, check the mesmerising brilliance of ‘Secret of the Wing’ and ‘Long Time Before You Were Born’), while the TR-808 beats are every bit as punchy and weighty as those found on celebrated NYC electro records.
Throw-in all manner of alien-sounding guitar synthesizer melodies and some special effects created using a Commodore 64 computer, and you have a singular set of sublime compositions that still stand out from the crowd 38 years after they were recorded."
credits
released July 31, 2021
Cover Photo: "Tane Kawasaki" by Brune Plotkin
Produced by: Ryo Kawasaki
1) Lucky Lady* (R. Kawasaki) 6:00
2) Looking For You# (R. Kawasaki) 4:28
3) Secret Of The Wing* (R. Kawasaki) 6:36
4) Long Time Before You Were Born* (R. Kawasaki) 1:05
5) Caravan* (Duke Ellington) 5:08
6) Forlane (from Le Tombeau de Couprin by Maurice Ravel) 4:30
8) Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington) 6.40
8) Rondes Printanieres (from The Rite Of Spring by Igor Stavinsky) 2:10
Total time: 18:28
Forlane and Rondes Printaniers were transcribed for guitar by R. Kawasaki.
All selections performed and arranged by R. Kawasaki.
Satellite Station Guitar Synthesizer Orchestra conducted by R. Kawasaki.
* Bass track programmed by R. Kawasaki on Roland TB-303.
# Bass played by R. Kawasaki on Guitar Synthesizer.
Drum Tracks programmed on Roland TR-808 and sound effects programmed on Commodore 64 Computer by R. Kawasaki.
Finger bells on Forlane by Ilana Morillo.
All guitar (electric) solos played on Yamaha SA-2000 Custom Guitar.
Note: All synthesizer sounds you hear on this album are produced by R. Kawasaki's custom Guitar Synthesizer.
Recorded and mixed at Satellite Station in New York City, (Feb. & Mar. 1983) by R. Kawasaki.
Final Master transferred at The Ranch by R. Kawasaki and Robert Norris. Master licensed by R. Kawasaki.
Special thanks to Gil Evans, Teo Macero and Kiyoshi Koyama for helping me with the ideas and their love for music and musicians.
Art Concept FLAG Shiozawa
Special thanks to : Yuki Nakajima (Picture of Pattern)
Licensed to NuNorthern Soul by Ryo Kawasaki (RYKA Music) 2020
Ryo Kawasaki is a jazz fusion guitarist, composer and band leader from Tokyo, Japan. He is best known as one of the first
musicians to develop and popularise the fusion genre and for helping to develop the guitar synthesizer in collaboration with Roland Corporation and Korg. His album Ryo Kawasaki & the Golden Dragon Live was one of the first all digital recordings....more