Ronin Arkestra – Sonkei (feat. Mark de Clive-Lowe, Shinpei Ruike, Tsuyoshi Kosuga, Wataru Hamasaki, Sauce81, Kenichi Ikeda, Kohei Ando) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 46:55 minutes | 564 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Albert’s Favourites
Headed up by jazz-man and broken beat hero Mark de Clive-Lowe, Tokyo’s Ronin Arkestra is an all-star collective that includes members of some of Japan’s leading jazz and electronic music outfits. We shouldn’t really be surprised, then, that debut album “Sonkei” is rather special. It features some suitably grandiose and epic contemporary jazz workouts – see “Onkochishin”, the wonderfully spiritual and dancefloor-friendly “The Art of Altercation” and loose-limbed closing cut “Tempestuous Temperaments” – but the influence of other forms of music (most notably dub, ambient and electronica) is evident throughout, often in subtle and surprising ways. In other words, it sounds like a future jazz classic in the making.
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