Smile

The famous song “Watarase,” full of Japanese flavour, is recorded for the first time on this album. Takeo Moriyama, a renowned jazz drummer, has been a prominent figure in the free jazz scene since the late 1960s, first with the Yosuke Yamashita Trio and more recently with the Kyoto Jazz Sextet. Moriyama's music has garnered a devoted following among both old and new fans. This album, recorded in 1980 with a quartet featuring his close friend Fumio Itabashi, is one of the most famous works in the history of Japanese jazz music. It features a large-scale performance in which stillness and movement are organically intertwined.