Tokyo-based Billy Spangles Group delivers top-notch original jazz - melodies you'll remember, improvisations that leave you wanting more and genuine group interaction.

7 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Mainstream Jazz, JAZZ: Jazz quartet

Show all album songs: The Ballad of Cloudy Bongwater (and other songs) Songs


Details:
The combination of Huw Lloyd (clarinet), Hideaki Aokki (saxophones), Takashi Igarashi (guitar) and Masako Otsuka (bass) has been performing around Tokyo since the beginning of 2006 and is perfecting itâs unique atmospheric sound. Jazz influences include John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Steve Lacy, but the Billy Spangles Group also uses elements of Pop, Latin, Japanese and Western classical music.

Itâs something of a tradition in jazz to write songs inspired by and dedicated to important people in oneâs life. This CD is a contribution by Billy Spangles Group to this tradition, we sincerely hope you come to enjoy - or at least appreciate - the character of each song on the album.
1. âThe Ballad of Cloudy Bongwaterâ vacillates - much like Tokyo comedian Cloudy himself - between the heroic and the comedic, with varying degrees of success.
2. âLouâs Shoesâ Bluesâ is for Louis Deandrade, master jazz drummer and english teacher, something of a sempai. He works so hard, even his shoes got the blues.
3. âKota!â (the exclamation mark can be read as either frustration or desperation) is for a good friend who lives too far away. One of the ideas in this song was stolen from genius bassist and composer Charles Mingus.
4. âApologyâ (also known as âYou Only Hurt the Ones You Loveâ) is exactly that. Sometimes all you can do is say sorry...and even that doesnât help!
5. âEvening with Williamâ is a description of a very hazy evening spent with a friend from New York. The Groupâs improvisation here is in a New Orleans style, perfect for capturing this kind of mood.
6. âWaltz for Charlie Parkerâ is not for the famous saxophonist but a baby who shares his name. The melody aims to capture the wonder and lack of self-consciousness that all young children share.
7. A radio show called âMore Betterer Japaneseâ, encouraging expatriates to communicate with their Japanese hosts in a humorous way, was under production by friend and performer Malcolm Shean. This is the theme music, a bossa nova, the last three notes telling us âThatâs the end...â - and it is!