Current Japanese group led by the talented Akihisa TSUBOY (Violin and guitar), KBB has given us in "Lost And Found", its first album, a brilliant and colorful work that combines the earthy power of GERARD or VIENNA with the melodic finesse of OUTER LIMITS or UK, sprinkled here and there with discreet touches of jazz-rock reminiscent of the work of Jean-Luc PONTY. A musical cocktail of rare intensity. Without any doubt one of the strongest revelations of the year 2001 ! "Four Corner's Sky" (2003) follows the same path in a beautiful manner. If one can recognize the KBB landmark right from the first notes, we could also notice that it went a step further with much more diversity in composition. Jazz now fights with Progressive rock and improvisation though the whole disc. To conclude, here's another must-have ! When one of the best current Progressive jazz-rock bands announces the release of its first live album, something exceptional can be expected. This is just not enough with KBB ! Simply perfect, "Live 2004" is a small gem of accuracy, sophistication and energy. Captured live at the Silver Elephant club of Tokyo, this little masterpiece is released by the Musea and Poseidon labels as a joint venture. Two tracks were taken from the first album "Lost And Found" (Among which the phenomenal "Hatenaki Shoudou"), four other ones are from "Four Corner's Sky" and there's an unreleased track entitled "Inner Flames". Moreover, the sound recording is excellent and all in all, this is a milestone album ! As for the previous albums, and maybe in a more accomplished way, "Proof Of Concept" (2007) mixes KING CRIMSON and OUTER LIMITS' dark atmospheres and power with melodious and lyrical violin parts ala THE MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, Jean-Luc PONTY or UK, not forgetting Eastern Europe or classical influences like VIVALDI. Its Progressive jazz-rock is constantly inspired, brilliant, well structured and precise. "Proof of concept" is the proof (!) that KBB became one of the best Japanese bands today.
