Ryo Fukui - Live At Vidro ’77 (2021)

I could only dream of the day we’d get some unreleased Ryo Fukui (福居良) music. That dream has now become a reality. The six tracks in this newly released live album, amounting to over an hour of pure gold, were recorded at Sapporo jazz club Vidro on 8th June, 1977. Masataka Ito, producer and sales representative of Trio Records at the time, brought in a 2-track 38cm/s reel-to-reel tape recorder and recorded Fukui’s two-hour long performance. This performance at Vidro took place the year following the release of Fukui’s renowned debut album, ’Scenery’, and not too long before the release of his second album, ’Mellow Dream’. After 23 years, Ito would finally digitise the Vidro tape in 2000, creating a few CD copies to gift to friends of his in Sapporo, including Fukui and his wife Yasuko. Another 21 years after that, altogether 44 years after this performance, and we’re blessed with the rare opportunity to hear Ryo and his original trio outside of the studio during his earlier days. I had to snatch up my copies quick, but if this album is still available anywhere on CD or vinyl, I implore you to purchase a copy. As with the recent reissues of Fukui’s pre-existing albums, the liner notes by Yusuke Ogawa are simply stunning, and go into great depth. I used my CD rip to produce this upload. If you’ve read anything about Ryo, you’d know he most likely wouldn’t have approved the release of this live album. He’s described as a perfectionist, who’s often too hard on himself and wants to put out only the best product possible. There was always room for improvement in Fukui’s mind. To many of us, however, all his work is perfection – because it’s him. The man has been a gateway to Japanese jazz, and jazz in general, for countless individuals. Not only is he my personal favourite pianist, but arguably my favourite artist of all time. I’m ecstatic that this album gives us yet another rendition of “Mellow Dream“, which is by far one of my most beloved compositions ever (up there with the likes of “Autumn Leaves“ and “Django“). This “Mellow Dream“ rendition may actually be the earliest one ever recorded, as he completed the composition right before this performance. We also get to hear Fukui’s earlier takes on “My Foolish Heart“ and “Speak Low“, which we’d later hear on his albums ’Mellow Dream’ and ’A Letter From Slowboat’ respectively. Up until the release of this recording, we’d not yet heard Fukui perform the other three jazz standards on this album. The Ryo Fukui Trio play with vigour on their rendition of “Love For Sale“, with a sound that perfectly encapsulates the Scenery and Mellow Dream era. The calmness of “Body and Soul“ is captured superbly, and “Mr. P.C.“ is very clearly Coltrane. This album is the longest in Fukui’s discography, thought it’s supposedly just half of the entire live performance. Ryo didn’t leave us with much of his work, but it’s highly likely there are still live performances out there just waiting to be released. My mind’s still processing the fact we now have six Ryo Fukui albums, the thought of there ever being more than five seemed like nothing but a fantasy. Let’s all rejoice in the release of ’Live At Vidro ’77’, and relish the honour of listening to more Ryo Fukui. Tracklist: 00:00​ Mellow Dream 15:57 Speak Low 24:18 Body And Soul 33:40 Love For Sale 45:38 Mr. P.C. 55:45 My Foolish Heart Performers: Piano – Ryo Fukui Bass – Satoshi Denpo Drums – Yoshinori Fukui