Description:

This one for the 50th anniversary of Okinawa's return to Japan! All the stars of the Okinawan jazz world have gathered to share their passionate beats. This is the spirit of Okinawan jazz! Included is "Gekko," a famous song sung on Memorial Day! The album "Uchina Jazz!" released in 2008 was an album featuring veteran musicians as well as young and mid-career musicians. And this album is now an album in which mid-career musicians, led by Hideki Maekawa, play the leading roles. The big band style, which is the origin of Uchina Jazz, has not been changed, and the quartet with Alan Kahipe, who will be 92 years old this year (2022), drummer Masae Uehara (86), Terry Shigeta (81), who has led Uchina Jazz for a long time, and the late Fumio Yara's son, Asaaki Yara, have joined the quartet. The quartet also includes Takako Yasutomi, whose voice is full of emotion. The songs on this album include originals, Okinawan folk songs, "Endo no Hana (Flower of Endo)," which became a hot topic when it was broadcast on NHK's "Minna no Uta" in April 1969, "Gekko (Moon Peach)," a famous song essential for Memorial Day, and jazz standards.The spirit of jazz is still alive and well in this charming piece of Uchina jazz.