Saxes Street Masato Honda

• 1Seven05:12
• 2Memories06:01
• 3Oretachi No Taiyo04:56
• 4Pinocchio05:06
• 5Beyond The Time06:46
• 6Juraki08:22
• 7Sax Street06:30
• 8See You Tomorrow05:32
• Total Runtime48:25

Info for Saxes Street

The first release from Masato Honda, one of Japan's most talented and popular saxophonists, after his move to Universal Music. The label is GRP, which has spun the history of fusion in the world.

The iron-clad line-up, which responds to all kinds of song ideas from royal fusion to tricky funk and jazz-tinged numbers, vividly colours the sound of the original numbers, all from the pen of Masato Honda.

This is a record that will not only meet the expectations of fans who have been waiting for it, but also the authentic jazz fans will inevitably be impressed by Masato Honda's world-class ability. This album, which is full of various expressions with a 'rich sense of colour' and at the same time gives the impression of an unprecedented 'style', is an ambitious and important work that marks a new page in the history of Masato Honda himself and of GRP, as it greatly evolves on the basis of the sound that has been typical of Masato Honda up to now.

Super saxophone player Masato Honda, whose supreme technique and entertainment appeal to fans, appears with his first new album in six years, SAXES STREET. After joining Nobuo Hara and the Sharps & Flats and T-SQUARE, he began his solo career. His collaborations with the all-star big band B.B. STATION, Malin and Bob James have also attracted attention, while he has also supported Eikichi Yazawa, Toshio Tsunomatsu and others. For this show, he picked up Mitsuru Sudo, Hiroyuki Noritake, Jun Kajiwara and Keiji Matsumoto, allies from his T-SQUARE days, from among the members who participated in the new album. The band's ironclad ensemble delivers a wide range of tunes written by Honda, from royal road fusion to tricky funk and jazz-tinged numbers.

Masato Honda, saxophone
Jun Kajiwara, electric and acoustic guitar
Yuya Komoguchi, guitar
Keiji Matsumoto, piano, keyboards, synthesizer
Satoshi Shiotani, piano
Mitsuru Sutoh, electric bass, double bass
Yosuke Inoue, double bass
Teppei Kawasaki, electric bass
Hiroyuki Noritake, drums
Hideo Yamaki, drums

Masato Honda
Influenced by his parents, who were music teachers, Honda became interested in music from an early age and started playing the saxophone in the third grade of primary school. He was a member of the jazz orchestra at Kunitachi College of Music. He won the first prize and the best soloist award at the Yamano Big Band Jazz Contest in his first appearance. And while still a student, he was the lead alto player in Nobuo Hara and the Sharps & Flats. After graduation, he toured with many of Japan's top artists and also worked as a recording musician for many artists of all genres.

In 1991 he joined the fusion group T-SQUARE. In 1998, he left T-SQUARE and began working as a solo artist. In addition to his own band, he has been involved in projects such as 'Witness', 'B.B. Station', 'Four of a Kind' and 'Voice Of Elements', as well as big band arrangements and production for the collaborative album with Malin. In recent years, he has participated in the BLUE NOTE TOKYO ALL-STAR JAZZ ORCHESTRA, as well as the unit SUPER BRASS STARS with Eijiro Nakagawa and Eric Miyashiro.

While focusing on these artist activities, he has also been involved in sessions with world-renowned artists, recording, arranging and producing.

In 2008, he recorded his first solo work in Los Angeles with Bob James and others; in 2015, Universal Music (GRP Records) released his tenth original album 'SAXES STREET'. Visiting professor at Showa University of Music.

This album contains no booklet.