STAFF PICK: 

“Thinking about getting into jazz? Start right here. Ryo Fukui taught himself the piano at 22 so that by 28 he could give us the beautiful and delicate Scenery.” - Michael (YYC)

Originally released 1976

Reissued November 2, 2018

WE RELEASE JAZZ

1xLP

It's kinda funny — as jazz was undergoing something resembling a drought in the West, across the pond in Japan, the ripples were being felt, and it began experiencing an emergence akin to boom it received stateside in the 50s and 60s. Case in point is Ryo Fukui. In 1970, at 22 years old, Fukui bought a piano and taught himself to play, emulating the delicate modalities of Bill Evans. Six years later he released Scenery, a master stroke of genius cementing jazz as a genuine global art form. Were it not for Youtube, which inspired a resurgence in Fukui's music — and by proxy the interest in Japanese jazz (J-Jazz) – Scenery, and similarly brilliant Japanese works, would be yet undiscovered here in North America. Once again, the interweb saves the day.