KOHSUKE MINE Vinilo y CD

Review: For those interested in Japan's modern jazz wave of the 1960s and early '70s, BBE's J Jazz Masterclass series of rare album reissues always deliver the goods. For proof, check the latest volume: a first ever reissue of Kohsuke Mine's 1970 debut album, First. Full of energetic, hard-wired sax solos (provided, of course, by Kohsune himself), rubbery bass (courtesy of Larry Ridley), jazz-funk electric piano (Masabum Kiluchi on keys) and frenetic rhythms (laid down by Lenny McBrowne), the album is undoubtedly a landmark J-Jazz set and just gets better with each successive listen. It also includes a terrific interpretation of Thelonious Monk classic 'Straight No Chaser', which - in our considered opinion -is no bad thing.