Chihiro Yamanaka - Ooh-La-La (2025) [Hi-Res]

Ooh-La-La" by Chihiro Yamanaka, a leading Japanese jazz pianist based in New York and active internationally, is a long-awaited and completely new recording, his first in about a year since "Carry On" in 2024. While centered on Brazilian music, including bossa nova by Antonio Carlos Jobim and others, Yamanaka's arrangements of Stevie Wonder's classic "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and even J-POP songs such as "Sneaker Blues" are all vividly fresh and varied, with a sound that is unique to Yamanaka. The arrangements are fresh and diverse. Yamanaka also took on the vocal challenge with his original song "Piyo The Little Bird. The album is a richly varied and rewarding listen that fully demonstrates Yamanaka's unique musicality that is not bound by genres or boundaries. (C)RS