Akira Ishikawa does not fear a break with the familiar. In 1970, the Japanese jazz drummer and percussionist made an early attempt to combine jazz and rock with his Count Buffalo Jazz And Rock Band (also known as the Count Buffaloes). The result, »Bakishinba: Memories of Africa« will be re-released by Cinedelic on March 24th 2023.
More Santana than Miles
The »Africa« evoked by the title has to be listened to with pricked ears. It is much easier to find elements of Latin American music in the jazzed-up rock. I write »jazzed-up rock« deliberately, because all in all it is more Carlos Santana than Miles Davis.
And, of course, Akira Ishikawa was to make the bigger break with tradition three years later with »Tsugaru Jongara Bushi«, which introduced the tsugaru shamisen, the Japanese long-necked lute, to jazz music for the first time. Nevertheless, »Bakishinba: Memories of Africa« is also a very courageous work, especially from the perspective of the time of its creation. In addition to the black vinyl edition, the reissue is also available in a blue vinyl edition, limited to 100 copies, exclusively from HHV Records.
