Masaru Imada - Tropical Sunset (Japanese Edition) (1984/2024)

A really lovely album from pianist Masaru Imada – a set that has some elements of the great Japanese fusion scene of the time, but a record that also has some warmer more acoustic moments too! Imada does a great job of balancing between upbeat groovers and some more personal, lyrical songs – and although he plays a bit of keyboards, most of his work is on acoustic piano – in a lineup of players that also includes Grovewr Washington Jr on soprano sax, Steve Khan or Kazumi Watanabe on guitar, Michael Brecker on tenor, and Steve Jordan on drums. There's some great interplay between the American and Japanese players – and titles include a version of Azymuth's "Carnival", plus "Morning Dream", "Blue Marine", "Secret Sounds", "Jumpin Dolphin", and "Andalusian Breeze".

Masaru Imada - piano
Akira Okazawa, Anthony Jackson, Mitsuaki Furuno - bass
Shinji Mori, Steve Jordan, Yuichi Tokashiki - drums
Manolo Badrena, Yuji Imamura - percussion
Kazumi Watanabe, Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Steve Khan - guitar
Grover Washington, Jr., Michael Brecker - saxophone
Randy Brecker - flugelhorn
Tom Browne - trumpet

Tracklist
1. Andalusian Breeze
2. Carnival
3. Dear Lili
4. Secret Sounds
5. Blue Marine
6. Morning Dream
7. Sunset Walk
8. Jumpin' Dolphin
9. Morning Dance
10. Mermaid Princess