NORIO MAEDA TRIO
ALPHA RAY LP

COJY-9600
NIPPONOPHONE/J-DIGS
33- A1: Alpha Ray
- A2: Bye Bye Blackbird
- A3: Maria
- A4: Fifth Column
- B1: Slobber
- B2: Star Eyes
- B3: Infinite
A torrent of brilliance released from the fingertips. The art of the piano trio by a giant of arrangement.
In 1968, Norio Maeda, the genius arranger once described as being able to “write different scores with his right and left hands at the same time,” welcomed his close musical allies Takeshi Inomata and Tatsuro Takimoto and took on the piano head-on in his first piano trio work as a pianist. This album brings together the refined melodies of the new mainstream style that led the jazz scene at the time, experimental elements using prepared piano, and even a strikingly inventive recording approach in which as many as seven microphones were placed inside the piano. With the outstanding structural power of a composer and arranger and the sharp instincts of a performer woven together at a high level, this is an important work that deserves to be engraved in the history of Japanese jazz.

