Kenichiro Nishihara - Humming Jazz (2025 Wax Alchemy Remastered) (2025) Hi-Res

NOTE! tracks:3,4,5,11 are to 16/44.1kHz

Japanese jazzist Kenichiro Nishihara drew much acclaim for his second LP Humming Jazz in 2008, which came a full five years after his debut in 2003, and heralded a stabler career thereafter. With its harmonious, benignant piano melodies and oblique drum palette - which hears the artist secure both live bossa nova performances and original hip house beats - Nishihara knew the inherent entertainment value in tender modal jazz, and sought to enmesh sophistication with pop breeziness. 'Rain Falls' is an especially round-bodied track, with glycemic vocal flavours from Kissey Asplund and richly EQ-ed drums, setting a soulful precedent for two key hip-hop gems to come: 'From Time To Time' and 'Consider My Love', featuring rappers Gregg Green and Pismo. 'Step Out' signals the record's close with bopping triplet gaiety.

The album contains 12 superb tracks, including the preceding 7inch single “Nebulosa / Slip Away,” which sublimates at a high level the beautiful melodies based on jazz and the potential that dance music originally possesses.

A new soundscape with a nostalgic yet new sensation, simple yet tasteful, where JAZZ and POP coexist against a background of dance music such as HIPHOP and HOUSE!