福居良

April 10, 2019 9:11 AM

Who Is Ryo Fukui? A self-taught jazz pianist and staple at Sapporo's Slowboat who passed away in 2016 and whose albums have become a Youtube sensation.

from reddit's r/indieheads: Who is Ryo Fukui?

Albums:
Scenery, 1976 ["Scenery is one of those hidden gems that brings up the question: “why wasn’t this huge?”" // " it’s never too late to rediscover the mastery of Scenery."]
Mellow Dream, 1977
Live at Nika 1976, bootleg
My Favorite Tune, 1995
Ryo Fukui In New York
A Letter From Slowboat, 2016

10 PIONEERS OF THE JAPANESE JAZZ SCENE

posted by the man of twists and turns (7 comments total)

Wow, totally new to me…can’t wait to dive in. Many thanks!
posted by the sobsister at 9:45 AM on April 10, 2019

Most Japanese jazz artists do not sound at all influenced by traditional Japanese music. Ryo Fukui sounds like an exception to this rule, to me.
posted by kozad at 9:53 AM on April 10, 2019

Curious if the "Woody Allen" YouTube account that posted "Scenery" is the real Woody Allen's...
posted by PhineasGage at 10:48 AM on April 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

The regular YT links to awesome but unknown-to-me Japanese jazz or ambient that appear on Metafilter are why I still love the internet. Listening to Scenery now, and track 3 just melted my face off. Thank you thank you thank you.
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 11:28 AM on April 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

So pleased to see this!

I ran into his work a year or so back (thanks, YouTube algorithm) and was really taken. For me, he's all about mood, and that beautiful subtle expression thereof in ways that are hard for me to pin down.
posted by allium cepa at 3:04 PM on April 10, 2019

Thank you! I've seen his stuff on YT but never knew the back story.
posted by gen at 3:31 AM on April 11, 2019

This is just the ticket! Music that I didn't know about and really enjoy.
posted by mightshould at 9:16 AM on April 11, 2019