Hideto Sasaki / Toshiyuki Sekine Quartet +1 - Stop Over

Double vinyl LP pressing. BBE Music presents the sixth release in it's acclaimed J Jazz Masterclass Series: Stop Over by Hideto Sasaki - Toshiyuki Sekine Quartet +1. Released at the height of the electric fusion era, Stop Over is an all-acoustic hard bop killer, sounding like the Jazz Messengers on speed. When it was originally issued on the private Smile label in 1976, only 100 copies were pressed, making Stop Over one of the most sought after and rare LPs in the J Jazz canon. Trumpeter Hideto Sasaki tears it up as if he's Kenny Dorham on a classic late '50s Blue Note session. He also provides the breakneck title track to the album, the one stunning original that sits next to solid covers including Bobby Hutcherson's modal classic 'Little B's Poem' and Denny Zeitlin's 'Carole's Garden'. Pianist Toshiyuki Sekine is also on top form with his deft touch and fluid keyboard runs, playing Horace Silver to Sasaki's Dorham. If you dig that late '50s/early '60s breathless hard bop sound, you'll love this.