[Happy & confy]
No.103 "One Plus One" by Mari Nakamoto
Hi. Today's song is "One Plus One" by "Mari Nakamoto".
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Index
1. Song data
| Title | One Plus One |
|---|---|
| Artist | Mari Nakamoto |
| Album Title | TV |
| Catalog Number | VICJ-77063 |
| Track No. | 3 |
| Duration | 3:50 |
| Released | 1984 |
| Publisher | Victor |
| Lyricist | Gene Ritchings |
| Composer | Mark Mazur |
| Arranger | Don Grusin |
- About the creators
Gene RitchingsLyricist
First of all, this song seems to be originally written for a band, or solo unit called "Good Clean Fun", which was formed by an American musician, "Mark Mazur" in 1982. (Therefore, it is not a heavy metal band of the same name.)
As the names of creators of this song, "Mark Mazur" and "Gene Ritchings" are listed.
According to some article on the internet, they were both engaged in an American rock band "HOLME" in the early '80s. And seemed to be working closely on making songs.
As far as we see, the song seems to be released only in EP(Vinyl single), and not in any albums nor CD.
Gene Ritchings is an American author, journalist, film director and the managing editor of a series of weekly newspapers in Hudson County, New Jersey.
Interestingly, he used to be a truck driver and roadie for the famed New Jersey bar band "HOLME".
This seems to be a connection between him and a member of "Holme", Mark Mazur.
(Ref: generitchings.com, about)
(Ref: hudsonreporter.com, Journey-into-the-underworld)
Mark MazurComposer
Mark Mazur used to be a guitarist of the band "HOLME".
In 1982, it seems he released a solo, or solo unit EP "One Plus One" from Overdrive Record under the name of band "Good Clean Fun" produced by Julian McBrowne.
And it became a original song for the today's post.
Don GrusinArrangers
Don Grusin (1941-) is an American jazz keyboardist, composer, and record producer.
He is a known maestro in Jazz fusion field. And his elder brother Dave Glusin is also a prominent authority of Jazz.
He started his career by joining an American latin rock and fusion band Azteca. Then in 1975, he was invited by Quincy Jones as a member of his band.
After that, he has built up his career in Jazz fusion field, and nowadays, he is one of the best known keyboardist in the arena.
Mr. Don Grusin is also very famous in Japan, since he has worked with so many top class musicians of Japan since the late '70s.
Here is a list of albums appeared on Wikipedia.
- I Never Was a Cowboy, K.Omura and K.Watanabe (1978)
- 4x4, Casiopea (1982)
- Maybe, Yasuko Agawa (1983)
- TV, Mari Nakamoto (1984)
- Maisha, Sadao Watanabe (1985)
- Sweet Deal, Sadao Watanabe(1991)
- Moments, Hiroko Kokubu (1995)
- Princess T, Naoko Terai (2000)
Not only them, musicians like, Minoru Mukaiya, Akira Jimbo, Keiko Matsui, Hideki Matsutake, Shigeru Suzuki etc, had worked with him, and created a nice sound.
Finally, here is a music clip of Don Glusin. The person playing the piano is him.
Cover art
- Sound impressions
Happy & comfy
This song seems to be a quite happy, optimistic, Latin pops in 8-beat. But in a way, the rhythm sounds like a kind of Raggae pop.
While the rhythm team, electric guitar, and the keyboard(?) with tremolo begin happy Latin melody, the vocal quickly join.
In the bridge, the horn section participates, and add some richness to the music.
Mari Nakamoto's vocal sounds more relaxed, compared with other her classical Jazz albums.
Reggae pop
"Reggae pop" is a pop song, but in a reggae like rhythm.(As far as we understand.)
The most typical song of such kind, and came into my mind is,
Here is a music clip of it on youtube. If you are not familiar with, please try. Good song.
- Reference
- About the artist
A master jazz vocalist of Japan
Mari Nakamoto debuted in 1962 as a member of a professional chorus group, "the scarlet".
She then moved to Jazz field in 1970. And in 1973, her first solo album "Unforgettable" was released. Since then, 26 original, 1 live, and 6 best albums came on sale.
Now, she has built a career of 50 plus years and still active. So, We would like to call her a master jazz vocalist of Japan.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Mari Nakamoto)
A brief history of Japan Jazz
The history of Jazz in Japan can be dated back to before the WW2(World war 2), circa 1920.
Jazz was initially a tiny bit of something in Japan. But it quickly spread to young hipsters of that time, until it was banned as a "hostile music" by the military government in 1943, under the WW2 alert.
The Japanese Jazz musicians in this period may be called the founders of Japan Jazz.
The 1st generation
After the WW2(1945), a lot of American soldiers and officers came to Japan to control the country.
For the recreation of them, American Head quarter gathered local musicians to play for Jazz for the dance floors, and paid a big salary.
As it turned out, quite a few of brilliant Japanese musicians went into Jazz by this. And some showed remarkable talent, started a professional career.
"Shizuko Kasagi", "Chiemi Eri", "George Kawaguchi", "Yuzuru Sera" etc like great musicians led the early stage of Japan Jazz, and contributed to make it popular among the people.
The tradition which these seniors established is directly linked with the latest Japan Jazz. Therefore we might call them as the 1st generation Jazz players.
The 2nd generation
Around 1960, the effect of military gone away, and Jazz experienced its first boom.
Dozens of spirited young musician like "Toshiko Akiyoshi", "Sadao Watanabe", "Hidehiko Matsumoto", "Terumasa Hino", "Yōsuke Yamashita" etc were debuted. And created Japan's modern Jazz history.
So, we might be able to call them as the 2nd generation.
Our "Mari Nakamoto" who debuted in 1962 might be a member of this generation.
1970 onward
Until mid '70s, the main stream of Japan Jazz was "Swing", "Bebop", "Afro-Cuban", and "Free Jazz" like classical Jazz.
But in the late '70s, "Crossover" or "Fusion" style Jazz became very popular and ushered in an era of new generation Jazz.
Since then, a lot of shining musicians are coming into Jazz and developing new sounds until now.
A witness of Jazz
On such history of Jazz, "Mari Nakamoto" started her career in the midst of the 1st boom of Jazz in the '60s.
And experienced classical Jazz, Bruce, crossover and the latest revival of retro Jazz as a super vocalist.
So, she might be an important witness of the development of Japan Jazz.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Mari Nakamoto)
We could not talk much on "Mari Nakamoto" this time.
So, please wait for a while until we post her song in the next time.
Thank you.
- Samples from online music stores
About the samples
Please go to the page below, and just play or click track No.3.
Trial button is on the left side of the song title.
AD : Free listening samples
Amazon JP(en)
TOWER RECORDS ONLINE
hmv.co.jp
8. Japanese Letters
| Song Title | One Plus One |
|---|---|
| Artist | 中本マリ (Mari Nakamoto) |
| Album Title | TV |
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