Masabumi Kikuchi - Susto (1981) [2016 Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000]

Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. A great album of funky Japanese fusion – one of the few sets from the Japanese scene of the late 70s that got any sort of wider release in the US – and a treasure that we've loved for years! The set's got a really great sound – soulful and funky, but sharp too – in a lineup that features a variety of keyboards from Masabumi Kikuchi, plus work by Terumasa Hino on trumpet, Steve Grossman and Dave Liebman on saxes, and James Mason on guitar! The best cuts have a funky feel that's in the CTI/Kudu mode – perhaps mixed with a bit of Herbie Hancock keyboard jamming – and the album's a surprisingly lost funky gem in the Columbia catalog of the early 80s, with a much harder edge than some of the other work on the label at the time!


Tracks:

01 - Circle-Line
02 - City Snow
03 - Gumbo
04 - New Native
Bonus tracks:
05 - Gumbo (Single Version)
06 - Circle-Line (Single Version)

Personnel:

Masabumi Kikuchi (Fender Rhodes elp, Korg PS-3300, PS-3200, MS-20,DL-50, BX-3, synthe bass SB-100, Sansui P-1, parametric equalizer for the sound system)
Terumasa Hino ( cor, bolivian-fl)
Steve Grossman (ss, ts)
Dave Liebman (ss, ts, a-fl)
Richie Morales (ds)
Victor "Yahya" Jones (ds)
Hassan Jenkins (b)
James Mason (gt)
Butch Campbell (gt)
Marlon Graves (gt)
Barry Finnerty (gt)
Billy Paterson (gt)
Alyrio Lima (perc)
Aiyb Dieng (perc)
Sam Morrison (wind driver, ss)
Airto Moreira (perc)
Ed Walsh (synth prog)