Oh God, oh dear, great, sweet God, when a piano enters like that, when it flies into the room so greedily, only to retreat for a moment and really find ALL THE SOFTNESS, then you go with it, of course you go with it so fiercely. This is how Kunihiko Sugano begins his »Love Is Many Splendored Thing«. After only two minutes, the spirits have completely taken over the performer, his piano floats away and a soulful »AH« escapes from him. Yes, it’s just too beautiful. Thank you spirits! Thank you Three Blind Mice for making this reissue available.
They don’t call Kunihiko Sugano a piano magician for nothing. Because really, piano-centered jazz rarely works well for long, because it rarely holds your attention for long, because it loses its wind. I would argue that this is the case with many Dollar Brand records, and also with one of the most popular piano jazz albums of all time, Keith Garrett’s »Köln Concert«. To be fair, Kunihiko Sugano has a congenial bass partner in Yoichi Kobayash. He grooves with the greatest juiciness, the healthiest fullness, he’s also so ready for it, just so ready.
You can, you can get Nina Simone vibes here. It famously and not infrequently happened with her that you could watch her on stage as something OTHER took control of her, as she really seemed to be in touch with the STREAM that the biggest names get their shit from. And that’s what it feels like here. There is something lively and directly flowing from the divine into the mundane.
