Customer Reviews

Hiroshima Rising From the Abyss

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Toshiko Akiyoshi at her best, when you hear those strains of Long Yellow Road begin this album you know you are listening to Toshiko Akiyoshi, and her band, having a ball, playing to a live audience.

If you are a fan you need it in the collection, if you don't know Toshiko Akiyoshi, perhaps you should try some of her other albums first, but this is an excellent CD!

The Hiroshima suite is just oustanding, in form function, and delivery. This shows how the Big Band idiom can be stretched to work on different musical styles.

I have been neaning to check out Toshiko Akiyoshi for a while, but somehow, something always came up, and I missed her many live gigs in NY, so I picked up this album.

This album made me regret not seeing her all those times I could have, but it made up for it. It's fantastic, amazing jazz, that neither condescends to popularity, or gets lost in snobbery. It's a style of jazz that is soundly grounded in the roots of the form, her japanese roots, and her own ideas and expression.

I have highly recommend buying this album. It's a must have for any jazz fan who wants to see the art form's progress beyond "cool" or the latest cute vocalist.