[Stylish & bluesy]
No.248 "SUM" by Blu-Swing
Hi. The song we would like to introduce to you today is, "SUM" by "Blu-Swing".
"SUM" is a stylish, and bluesy Club-Jazz song in an up-tempo Bossa Nova rhythm.
The song is contained in "Revision", the debut album of a Nu-Jazz group "Blu-Swing" released in 2008.
"Blu-Swing" is one of the leading Nu-Jazz groups, and particularly popular in Club Jazz scene, due to their high quality music and very high playing skill of the members.
In fact, we thought they were a group in overseas, since we had never seen the Japanese Jazz group performs such nice music in this category.
So, in a sense, it was a bit of surprise for us to know an excellent music of them.
If you like, please listen to.
Pause posting for business trip
We are sorry for this sudden announcement, but we need to stop posting temporarily, since our writer "Satsuma" has unexpectedly been asked to work in other office possibly for months from the end of this March.
And in addition to that, our blog generated a need for a bit of refreshing, and we are expecting that it might take another several months for processing.
Accordingly, the expected pausing period could last almost a year, though the site is completely usable as same as before.
] We are sorry for this, but wish you could understand this is an inevitable pause.
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Links to the music shops, offering song samples, are located on the bottom of this page.
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Cover art today
Song data
| Title | SUM |
|---|---|
| Artist | Blu-Swing |
| Album Title | REVISION |
| Catalog Number | COCB-53731 |
| Track No. | 11 |
| Duration | 4:31 |
| Released | 2008 |
| Publisher | Columbia Music Entertainment |
| Lyricist | Yu-ri Tanaka &dream-catcher |
| Composer | Yūsuke Nakamura |
| Arranger | Yūsuke Nakamura |
About the creators
Yu-ri Tanaka & dream-catcher Lyricist
In this song, the names like "Yu-ri Tanaka" & "dream-catcher" are being credited as the lyricists of this song.
Among them, "Yu-ri Tanaka" is also a vocalist of the preforming group "Blu-swing.
So, We would like to come back to her in "About the artist" section later.
And about the lyricist "dream-catcher", we could not actually find who is this person.
Then, we would like to come back to this creator when we find some information.
References
For more details on "Yu-ri Tanaka" & "dream-catcher", please have a look at the references linked below.
-
(Ref: yu-ritanaka.theblog.me,
biography)🇯🇵
Yūsuke Nakamura Composer & Arranger
"Yūsuke Nakamura" is the composer & arranger of this song, and also a member of the performing group "Blu-swing".
So, We would like to come back to him in "About the artist" section later.
References
For more details on "Yūsuke Nakamura", please have a look at the references linked below.
-
(Ref: www.yusukenakamura.jp,
profile)🇯🇵
Song image & Lyrics
Open
Link to the lyrics
Some notes on the lyrics link
Sound impression
Stylish & bluesy
This piece seems to be a stylish, acoustic, and bluesy pop song in Nu-Jazz style in an accelerated BossaNova, or Samba rhythm.
Swift BossaNova
The woodblock, classical guitar, acoustic piano, Caixa, drums, bass, and sequencer begin an introduction in swift samba rhythm, and the main part starts.
In the main part, the ensemble of those percussive instrument, bass, guitar, and piano create a comfortable & danceable backing muisc, and supports a shiny but moist vocal of "Yu-ri Tanaka".
In the bridge, the electronic piano plays an impressive bluesy solo, and and a refined taste to the passage.
Reference
About Google translate
About the artist
Blu-Swing Edgy & stylish Club Jazz group
"Blu-Swing" is a 5-piece Nu-Jazz band active since 2004.
They are one of the leading NU-Jazz group, and popular among the fans in Jazz & Club scene.
Their sound is a lot closer to an orthodox acoustic Jazz, since they use minimized electronic sound. In this sense, they are like a Jazz quartet + Vocal.
But their rhythm, melody and chord progression is so stylish & futuristic, and in this context, they are not a traditional Jazz group at all.
Blu-Swing debuted in 2008 with a single, "Sum". Since then, 3 singles, and 12 original, 1 live, and 1 best albums have been released until now.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Blu-Swing)
Early times
There is no much information about the earlier phase of this band. But according to some references, a Club Jazz group "Blu-Swing" was formed in 2004 by five competent musicians with a different back ground.
The precursor group of "Blu-Swing" was a Fusion band "Ele-gut Gang" which was teamed up by "Show Kojima" (G), "Shinji Hasuike" (B), and "Tomoaki 'Bhutan' Miyamoto" in circa early 2000s.
Then, it was developed into a 5-piece Nu-Jazz band "Blu-Swing", when they have decided to work with a rapper "Shade".
Since then, the band started its activity as a backing band to "Shade", and not just supported his live in various venues but also took part in the recording of his two albums released in 2005 & 2006.
In 2007, the singer and the band released a new album "Jazzyster". But unlike before, the artist name was credited as "Shade&Blue-Swing" and not "Shade" only anymore.
So, this meant there was more involvement of "Blu-Swing" on this album.
The new album "Jazzyster" was accepted well among Club Jazz scene, and perhaps this preferable result led them to debut as an independent group.
Then in 2008, the Nu-Jazz group "Blu-Swing" fulfilled their major debut as a single group, by launching thir debut album "Revision" which we are introducing today.
"Revision" achieved a remarkable result, like getting No.1 ranking in HMV club music chart, or being ranked in the third in J-pop chart.
Through this success, "Blu-Swing" emerged as an up-and-coming Nu-Jazz band with high potential.
Members
The members of the Jazz group band "Blu-Swing" were as follows.
- Yūsuke Nakamura (Kb)
-
"Yūsuke Nakamura" is a composer, sound creator, music producer, keyboardist, music programmer, and a member of "Blue-Swing", "LastElectro", "Tres-Men", or "perfect yasai pluck" active since 2002.
The center of his music is in Jazz and Electronica, but in his music creation, "Nakamura" does not hesitate to cross the boundary of music, and creates an excellent sound depending on the needs of customers.
He has not just created a various advertising jingles, or game music, but also worked with many first class musicians as a re-mixer, or arranger.
For more details about her, please have a look at her wikipedia page linked below.
- Shinji Hasuike (B)
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"Shinji Hasuike" is a bassist active since around the early 2000s.
"Hasuike" began to learn the piano when he was five. But when he was fifteen, he began to teach himself the electric bass, and actively participated in the various bands, and sharpened his skills as a bassist.
At the age of twenty, "Hasuike" began to play the acoustic bass (contrabass), and began to study under a known master bassist "Yoshio Ikeda".
And when he was 22, he started his carrier as a professional musician. And in 2004, "Hasuike" participated in a Nu-Jazz group, "Blu-Swing" as a original member.
He is not just playing as the bassist of "Blu-Swing", but also has taken part in the recording of various musicians, like "SHADE" (Rapper), "LAVA(DJ)", "Swing-O", "Gladston Galliza", "TATE & MARKIE", "BENNIE K", or "Kana Nishino".
- Yu-ri Tanaka (Vo)
-
"Yu-ri Tanaka" is a singer, and the vocalist of "Blu-Swing"
"Tanaka" was aspiring to be a opera vocalist, and studied classical singing at a local high school.
But after graduating from high school, she started her career as a popular song vocalist, and began to perform in her home town.
In 2006, after a short while later from her move to Tokyo, "Tanaka" began to take part in the recording of a rapper "Shade", or "Yūsuke Nakamura" as a vocalist.
And naturally, she became a member of "Blu-Swing" (as a backing chorus initially though,) almost coincidentally.
"Yu-ri Tanaka" is also active as a solo singer, and not just participating in the recording of the other artists, but also ardently releasing the cover albums of Light & mellow tunes of the '70s & 80s, as "CITY LIGHTS" series.
For a Millennial Generation singer like "Tanaka", the songs of the '70s & 80s wer totally new to her.
But she was really impressed by some nice light & mellow of that time, like "Tatsuro Yamashita", and therefore she began to cover them as a singer.
She has already released 3 albums in her "CITY LIGHTS" series.
For more details about her, please have a look at her Wikipedia page of "Blu-Swing", or below.
Yu-ri Tanaka interview, youtube.com
- Show Kojima (Gt)
-
"Show Kojima" is a guitarist, sound creator, studio musician, guitar instructor, and a member of "Blu-Swing" active since around the early 2000s.
"Kojima" was grown in overseas, and lived in several countries in childhood days.
So, he absorbed some essence of foreign music in his body.
He began to teach himself the guitar when he was 9 years old. But the first instrument he was given was the gut guitar.
At the age of 11, he switched his instrument to an electric guitar, and since then, he spent his time as a most typical amateur musician aspiring to be a professional, through out his high school age.
"Kojima" went on to a music school after graduating from high school, and concentrated on studying the guitar and music theory.
And after finished the music school, he slowly started his career as a professional musician.
At the same time, he formed a Fusion band "Ele-gut gang" with his music peers "Hasuike" & "Miyamoto".
And this band later became "Blu-Swing", then "Ele-gut gang" was a precursor band of Nu-Jazz group "Blu-Swing".
For more details about him, please have a look at his profile page linked below.
- Tomoaki Miyamoto (Dr)
-
"Tomoaki Miyamoto" is a drummer, composer, studio & tour musician, drum instructor, incidental music creator, and, recording engineer active since around the early 2000s.
According to his biography, "Miyamoto" finished a drums and percussion course at graduate school of music.
And he also studied the drums under known drummer like, Takeshi Inomata, Yoshiyuki Kuroda, or Yoshinobu Inagaki.
So, in this sense, he is a true specialist of the drums.
"Miyamoto" is a founding member of "Ele-gut gang", the precursor band of "Blu-Swing". And seemingly, he started his professional career about the same timing.
In 2004, "Miyamoto" and four other members formed "Blu-Swing". Since then he has released or involved into many albums as a member of "Blu-Swing".
In parallel, he is collaborating with various musicians as a recording, or tour musicians to support their music activity.
And also, he is ardently involving in the incidental music category as a composer or player at the moment.
Like described in the above, all the members of "Blu-Swing" are actively participating in the music field out side the group.
Energetic
Since the debut, "Blu-Swing" began to release quite actively, in other word, almost on a yearly basis.
In 2009, the 2nd album "Bottom Line" was released as a compilation of a remixed & originals.
In June 2010, they released a brand-new, and very stylish album, "Secret Of Attraction" as their 3rd album.
And in December 2010, their first live album, "Live at Motion Blue YOKOHAMA" was also launched as the second release for this year.
In February 2012, their first album "Revision" was also launched in the US as "Revision US" after added 2 bonus tracks to the original album. And the band marked a memorable debut in the overseas market.
Then in July 2012, a new album "Find Your Way" became on sale as their 4th album.
And passionately in 12th December 2012, the band released their 5th album "1212".
"Blu-Swing" continued to release albums in this high pace until 2016, and actually they have launched another 5 albums in this 4 years.
But after their 11th album "_2016" became on sale in 2016, "Blu-Swing" suddenly stopped the album release, and all the members made a transition from group activity to solo activity period.
Each members seems to have spent this precious time for interesting activities.
For more details, please have a look at their personal web pages. (The names of the sites are in the bottom of this section.)
Keep on evolving
The basic sound style of "Blu-Swing" is a stylish, refined, acoustic and bluesy Nu-Jazz, but the factors like Club, House, Electro, and Hip-hop are also mixed in their music.
And in this style, even the vocal also become a part of instrument, and as a whole, they looked like playing an instrumental music, particularly in the early period.
We think this original style was lasted until their 4th album "Find Your Way".
However, we felt it was changed little when they released the 5th album, "1212" in 2012.
In other words, the vocal increased its importance, and has been brought to the fore, and contrastingly, the ensemble of the instruments slightly reduced its appeal, and became more like a backing sound.
We do not know which is better, but perhaps the latter balance might have more generality.
It might not be a substitution for that, but in 2018, the instrumentalists of "Blu-Swing formed an instrumental band "perfect yasai pluck", and performing an instrumental music.
Recent
In 2019, "Blu-Swing" released their first best album, "BLU-SWING 10th ANNIVERSARY BEST" for celebrating the 10th anniversary of their debut.
And, 2023 was the year of the 15th anniversary of the band.
"Blu-Swing" launched a new album "Spectre" in a while, and held concerts to rejoice the anniversary year.
In this way, they are performing actively.
References
For more details about "Blu-Swing", please have a look at the references linked below.
-
(Ref: www.blu-swing.com,
BIOGRAPHY)🇯🇵 -
(Ref: yu-ritanaka.theblog.me,
BIOGRAPHY)🇯🇵 -
(Ref: www.miyamoto-bhutan-tomoaki.com,
BIOGRAPHY)🇯🇵 -
(Ref: hasubass.wixsite.com,
profile)🇯🇵 -
(Ref: showkojima.amebaownd.com,
profile)🇯🇵 -
(Ref: www.yusukenakamura.jp,
Profile)🇯🇵
Video clip
Lastly, we would like to introduce a music clip of today's song "SUM" by "Blu-Swing".
Fortunately, a music video of this song seems has been uploaded by "BLU-SWING - Topic" with permission.
So, if you like, please listen to.
And as one more song for today, we would like introduce a stylish instrumental tune "Pulse" as "Youtube 2", also from their debut album "Revision".
The albums of "Blu-Swing" almost always, contain some instrumental tunes, and this one is one of the nicest, and the most typical piece of "Blu-Swing".
If you like, please listen.
Music Samples
11
(試聴する)
AD: Listening samples (Free)
Amazon JP(en)
recochoku.jp
music.apple.com (Track No.11)
Japanese Letters
| Song Title | SUM |
|---|---|
| Artist | Blu-Swing |
| Album Title | REVISION |
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