June Night Love

Released in 1982 (only one year after Casiopea’s legendary Mint Jams), June Night Love by Jun Miyake is one of the most underrated fusion albums to come out of Japan. With some of the most talented musicians in Japan’s jazz scene featured prominently, the album is filled with some of the tightest, most energetic grooves this side of the Pacific. Freshly back from New York City, Miyake and saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu’s playing on songs such as “I Knew I Was” (featured in the Warhol commercial) is firmly in the style of the Brecker Brothers, with elaborate lines played at finger-blurring speed.

Yet fans of old school jazz need not worry. “You Would Smile So” is an acoustic ballad dedicated to Terumasa Hino, one of the leading trumpeters in Japan’s jazz scene at the time, and one of Miyake’s first teachers. Miyake’s tone, practically explosive on other tracks, is smoky, taking on a Chet Baker-like quality over piano fills, a subdued upright bass, and gentle brushes on the drums.

Jun Miyake is a musician whose many aspects have made him something of a legend in his native Japan. His collaborators range from Dave Liebman to Ichiko Aoba, and as his unique brand of third wave jazz continues to find fans across the world, his debut album, June Night Love, is an absolutely essential part of the Jun Miyake legend.