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ROCK JOINT

Jazz Rock/Fusion • Japan


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Rock Joint biography
In the early 70's, jazz pianist and composer Hiromasa 'Colgen' SUZUKI and his self-titled trio (with Kunimitsu INABA on bass and Hideo SEKINE on drums) started working on a project of musicians which should have made a lengthy series of concept albums mixing jazz rock and world music called ROCK JOINT.

Musicians that worked around this albums were more of jazz background and some of the musicians stayed in the line-up of both albums released as ROCK JOINT projects even though the style of music was slightly different; first 'Rock Joint Biwa' was centered around the japanese instrument biwa, giving a fresh feel to album's early jazz influenced psychedelic rock (conceptually inspired by mythology in the ancient book Furukotofumi), while the second one 'Rock Joint Cither' was oriented around sitar and Indian music (cither being a mistranslation of sitar). Sounds of these albums were still very much under the impression of earlier psychedelia that for example used wah wah effects on the guitar but they were under the influence of early fusion as well; the second album could be in some respect be compared to indian fusion bands like CODONA but not as meditative and much more energetic.

Hiromasa SUZUKI would continue to record jazz albums under his name or under his trio until his death in 2001, leaving also behind him some soundtracks and collaborations with bands COUNT BUFFALOS ROCK BAND, THE FREDOM UNITY and ELECTRO KEYBOARDS ORCHESTRA as well.

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ROCK JOINT discography


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ROCK JOINT top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.24 | 8 ratings
Rock Joint Biwa ~ Kumikyoku Furukotofumi
1972
5.00 | 3 ratings
Rock Joint Cither ~ Silk Road
1973

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ROCK JOINT Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Rock Joint Biwa ~ Kumikyoku Furukotofumi by ROCK JOINT album cover Studio Album, 1972
4.24 | 8 ratings

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Rock Joint Biwa ~ Kumikyoku Furukotofumi
Rock Joint Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by Igor91

4 stars Originally posted to Jazzmusicarchives.com: by me (Igor91) on 3/7/2021:

Hiromasa Suzuki's Rock Joint Biwa is one of the great, obscure jazz rock / fusion albums to emerge out of 1970's Japan. The LP offers up an interesting combination of jazz, psychedelic rock, and traditional Japanese instrumentation (biwa, wadaiko). The results are impressive, unique, and never boring. The psychedelic factor is moderate, but is enough to push the music into mind-stimulating directions. All the musicians deliver fantastic performances, particularly the guitar work of Kiyoshi Sugimoto. He can do jazz and heavy psych with equal impact and style. The injections of traditional Japanese music is masterfully done, and never feels forced or awkward. Being a big fan of early 1970's fusion, this was an enjoyable listen for me. I have been exploring the Japanese branch of this sub-genre, and this was a great find. I highly recommend this album to like-minded travelers. I will be searching out an affordable CD copy of Suzuki's following album, Rock Joint Cither ' Silk Road, which is another lost fusion gem.

Thanks to historian9 for the artist addition.

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