curated_works

(2016)

A double LP of R&B/soul/funk tracks from the 60s and early 70s, featuring classics by Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Booker T. & The MG’s, The Meters, Allen Toussaint et al, and great jazz-funk by Grant Green, Lonnie Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Bernard Purdie and others. A limited edition on 180g vinyl.

(2016)

Bobby Robinson operated a record shop in Harlem from the immediate post-war era, and was a real-time participant in the birth of rhythm & blues. This CD has 30 tracks, all released in the 1950s and early 60s on labels owned by Bobby (Fire, Fury, Enjoy et al), some big hits, some obscure, all great stuff!

（2014）

A selection of hits and more obscure tracks from the very early days of Johnny Cash.

（2014）

Until the arrival of Elvis Presley in 1954, Sam Phillips’s Sun label was his conduit for releasing blues records by Memphis-area musicians, some of whom subsequently went on to worldwide fame. Others remained in obscurity, but there is a lot of excellent material on this double CD.

（2014）

Just what the title says. One CD of hits by Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison etc, and one of great rockabilly and blues by some of the lesser known artists on Sun.

（2013）

Vee Jay was a small Chicago indie R&B/blues/gospel label that indirectly wielded an enormous influence on subsequent generations via the British groups who covered their material in the 1960s.

（2013）

A selection of early-mid 70s tracks from the Blue Note label, during the period when it was based in Los Angeles. Most of the music falls in the area somewhere between jazz and R&B, a little before the term ‘fusion’ came along. A double CD, the first of which has a lot of covers of current popular songs from the time, the second more in a jazz bag.

（2012）

A double CD covering the entire career of the legendary traditional Irish ensemble, complete with some fine collaborations with musicians from the rock and country worlds.

（2000）

A best of this Basque musician, a master of the diatonic button accordion known as a ‘trikitixa’ (pronounced tree-kee-tee-sha).

（1998）

Early 70s funk-jazz from the Blue Note catalogue

（1997）

Chess Records was to Chicago blues what Sun was to early rock’n’roll. This is a personal compendium of some great blues and R&B, from the 50s and 60s. The cover features a photo of my Chess record case that I still use to this day, 40 years since I originally appropriated it from a junk heap. It apparently originally belonged to Marshall Chess, son of the founder Leonard.

（1997）

Subtitled ’21 Big Hits From Stax,’ this is self-explanatory. Tracks from the late 60s to the early 70s, from the legendary Memphis soul label.

（1996）

This is another very personal selection, from the Hannibal and Rykodisc labels. Includes the theme tune from my Barakan Beat show, by Lenny Pickett and the Borneo Horns.

（1996）

This one was a labour of love. My favourite jazz guitarist, Grant Green playing in a back-up role behind various luminaries of the Blue Note label, from the early 60s to the early 70s.

（1994）

New Orleans R&B, mainly from the Imperial label, featuring slightly obscure but very excellent musicians like Earl King, Archibald, Lee Allen, etc.

（1994）

Sue was a small New York-based R&B label that put out a lot of great though often unsuccessful R&B records in the first half of the 60s. This double CD includes some great early stuff from Ike & Tina Turner, plus Jimmy McGriff, and Inez & Charlie Foxx’s classic “Mockingbird.”

（1991）

A seond volume of great organ jazz from Blue Note.

（1990）

My first ever compilation, from 1990, featured a number of Hammond organ players who were signed to the Blue Note label mainly during the 1960s. With the aid of some fortuitous timing (Rare Groove was just getting big at the time), this one sold an astonishing 10,000 copies. Most of the musicians were so obscure that at the time their names couldn’t even be found in jazz encyclopedias, although some of them went on to become cult figures later.

新宿伊勢丹本館の地下2階にBeauty Apothecaryというオーガニック化粧品などの売り場があり、ぼくはそこの’in-house music’を監修しています。 自分で選曲することもありますが、面白い選曲をしてくれる仲間にも声をかけて、お願いしています。更新の時期は毎月の満月の日です。皆さんが選んでいる作品をここでも紹介します。

Another project that I curate is the in-house music for Beauty Apothecary, the organic cosmetics department that comprises the B2 floor of Isetan Department Store in Shinjuku. The music is changed on the day of the full moon each month. Sometimes I pick the music myself, but mostly I invite friends and associates with interesting musical tastes to select 5 albums for rotation. Here they are for your perusal.