Nobuki Takamen - The Nobuki Takamen Trio (2018)

Nobuki Takamen is, in all probability, the best jazz guitarist Japan has ever produced. Nowadays he lives in New Jersey but tours his homeland regularly. His playing is marked by good taste and sensitivity. He is a highly inventive guitarist, his runs and progressions never quite going where you expect them to go but always making perfect sense.

He doesn't overburden his playing with technique, staying accessible to a wide range of listeners. He names his influences as Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Pat Martino, George Van Eps, Jimi Hendrix and somewhat strangely Akira Takasaki, of the Japanese glam rock band Loudness. As usual, Takamen is accompanied on this, his seventh album, by fellow countrymen, Toshiyuki Tanahashi on bass and Naoki Aikawa, drums.