Terumasa Hino Quintet - Hi-Nology
Terumasa Hino Quintet - Hi-Nology (Recorded at Yamaha Hall Ginza 1969 CD Release Date: 1985)
MP3 @ 320kbs | 1985 | Jazz Instrumental | 57+49=106Mb
Label: Denon - Columbia Japan | Styles: Fusion, Hard Bop
Moods: Cerebral, Reflective, Sophisticated, Complex, Knotty, Laid-Back/Mellow, Organic, Uncompromising
Tracks
1. Like Miles 9'54"
2. Electric Zoo 12'30"
3. Hi-Nology 14'29"
4. Dupe 7'02"
Terumasa Hino
Long considered a jazz legend and Japan’s foremost trumpeter, Terumasa Hino has played with almost all the jazz heavyweights throughout the past half century, from Gil Evans and Elvin Jones to Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. Born in Tokyo in 1942, Hino made his professional debut at the tender age of thirteen, drawing his main inspiration from Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis.
For the first few years of his career, Hino was something of an opportunist, even jumping open Japan’s early ‘60s eleki bandwagon with the cash-in LP TRUMPET IN BLUEJEANS. However, his fiery temperament and ‘large brilliant tone’, as The Grove Dictionary of Jazz termed it saw Hino’s late ‘60s work increase both in output and quality, and his 1969 Columbia LP HI-NOLOGY as The Terumasa Hino Quintet was extremely successful commercially.
****
Fast, extremely energetic fusion jazz album (with the emphasis on jazz). Hino leaves no doubt that he is indebted to Miles Davis; one of the tracks is titled "Like Miles" (and sounds very much like Miles). And yet, Hino is no Miles clone. In fact, on this 1969 recording Hino ventures into realms that Miles hadn't really visited yet. After Filles de Kilimanjaro, Miles' records were assembled in the studio from snippets, and his live recordings were mostly extended jams of large ensembles. Hi-Nology is much more straightforward and concrete. Whereas Miles became interested in texture, Hino, despite the fusion idiom, also keeps a footing in hard bop. Therefore, songs are never abandoned for patterns, and when the solos deconstruct a theme, they will always eventually piece it together again. If Freddie Hubbard hadn't gone all gooky in the late 1960s, you could image him playing like this.
A very interesting album, much recommended.
And the cover is way beyond cool.
PS. This is the ORIGINAL 1985 CD release. The bonus tracks on the 2005 reissue are best ignored. They lack the electricity, wild energy and funky rhythm of the other tracks and instead present somewhat clichéd melody lines. They also completely subvert the mood of the album.