Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio
Misty.
A Tokyo studio session by three regular musical partners, Misty brings Tsuyoshi Yamamoto’s piano together with Isoo Fukui’s bass and Tetsujiro Obara’s drums.
Recorded at Aoi Studio on 7 August 1974, the album appeared on Three Blind Mice that year, following Yamamoto’s debut Midnight Sugar. It is a studio recording, despite sharing its name with the Tokyo club where the trio worked. The seven-track original is the recording behind the physical editions below.
Yamamoto recalled playing nightly at the Misty club with Fukui and Obara. In a later interview, he also remembered listening to Erroll Garner records and practising on the club’s New York Steinway after initially struggling with the instrument. Those recollections connect this session to the pianist’s regular working life.
Standards and a Yamamoto original
Garner’s “Misty” opens the programme, beginning with Yamamoto alone before the trio joins. His own “Blues” follows, alongside a selection of standards. “Yesterdays” and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” share the writing partnership of Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach; “Honeysuckle Rose” comes from Fats Waller and Andy Razaf. Rodgers and Hart’s “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” and Matt Dennis’s “Angel Eyes” complete the seven titles.
The recording credits name Yoshihiko Kannari and Masayoshi Okawa as engineers, with Takeshi Fujii as producer. Impex’s account notes Swing Journal recognition for engineering and a Jazz Disc Award in 1974. These are part of the album’s recording history, alongside the musicians and repertoire.
Reissues and a later return
The Impex vinyl edition spreads this original programme over two 45rpm records. Tohru Kotetsu mastered that edition, which was pressed at RTI. Its sequence gives the title track a side of its own, with “Blues” and “Yesterdays” sharing the following side. The remaining standards fill the second record.
Yamamoto returned to some of this material for the separate 2021 Misty for Direct Cutting project. That new performance contains “Misty”, “Midnight Sugar”, “The In Crowd” and “Girl Talk”. It offers a later return to his repertoire, rather than another mastering of the seven performances recorded in 1974.
Popular editions to consider
Vinyl: the 2017 Impex Records edition (TBM-30-45, US) appears in 1,273 Discogs collections. Its community rating is 4.77/5 from 159 votes. There are 14 copies listed for sale. View this Vinyl edition ↗
CD: the 2019 Craftman Records edition (CMRS-0033 / DQCP-5281 / TBM-30, Japan) appears in 285 Discogs collections. Its community rating is 4.62/5 from 29 votes. There are 15 copies listed for sale. View this CD edition ↗
SACD: the 2004 First Impression Music edition (FIM SACD 062, US) appears in 205 Discogs collections. Its community rating is 4.74/5 from 39 votes. There are 3 copies listed for sale. View this SACD edition ↗
Album details
| Original release | 1974 |
|---|---|
| Label | Three Blind Mice · TBM-30 |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Recording | 7 August 1974 · Aoi Studio, Tokyo |
| Trio | Tsuyoshi Yamamoto — piano; Isoo Fukui — bass; Tetsujiro Obara — drums |
| Original programme | 7 tracks |