Anyone who's been reading here for awhile knows that I'm a long time fan of jazz music and it represents close to about 30% of my non Japanese music collection, most of it which was collected during my days of working at a music store here in Hawaii. Anything from be-bop, big band, fusion, acoustic to contemporary fits my jazz fancy as jazz is such a wonderfully diverse music language to delve into and enjoy. So here I present to you 6 jazz trio renditions of both the J-Pop and J-Rock genres which are being performed by a very talented trio of Japanese musicians. The songs here are being translated by piano, acoustic bass, and drums and what you may immediately notice is how much "sound" such a small collection of instruments can create and the lively ambiance they resonate presents the listener with a most relaxing atmosphere to fall in love with.
So whether you're just enjoying J-Music gone jazz or think you recognize what song(s) are being improvised on here I hope you enjoy the music. And if anyone can meet the challenge I'll send Tackey & Tsubasa's "Koi uta" Koi Ban version release to whomever can name the most of these J-Pop/J-Rock songs first. First and foremost each of these six J-Music tunes were huge hits so nothing here is obscure by any means so it's just a matter of if you are able to pick the tune out from the jazz arrangement. I may be able to give you additional little hints if you request them here. 🙂
Song A was released as a single by this five member male group which was originally comprised of six members and reached sales exceeding 700,000 copies reaching the #2 spot on the Oricon chart.
Sankaku_Girl has identified song E!! (^o^)/ (8/25/08)
Song E enjoyed sales exceeding 1.7 million and is performed by a Johnny's Entertainment group. Both group members share the same last name but aren't related.
Song F sold more than 1.1 million copies peaking at #2 on the Oricon chart and was released by this 3 member group featuring a female vocalist however just two years later one of the group's primary songwriters would leave.
Sankaku_Girl has identified song H!! (^o^)/ (8/25/08)
Song H is the best selling single for this Okinawan female artist reaching #1 on the charts and selling over 2.2 million copies.
Song I boasted sales exceeding 600,000 copies and is this groups' 5th single. The female lead singer once won a karaoke singing contest which led to an independent single release which then led to her becoming this group's vocalist.
Nice! I like jazz too. i tend to favor jazz fused with other genres the just pure jazz. Mika Nakashima's older stuff s really good, i love "love addict".I still can't access the speed songs you've posted, but for some reason
i can access these jazz posts:o I have been trying to figure out what
songs the jazz versions are, but i dont have a chance. you're gonna
posts answers, right? if not I might not be able to sleep xDi listened to some of speed's stuff on youtube, so i know what they sound like. it's going to be interesting seeing what their come back single will be like. kinda freaky coincidence that you make a post about them and poof, they're gonna make a comeback. what are the chances..
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Hey! How are you? =) This was really, really hard! xD I spent a good time trying to "understand" wich song that were! And i just can recognice two: E: Garasu no shounen by KinKi Kids and H: Can you celebrate? by Amuro Namie!
See you!!
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It's really wonderful when seemingly unlikely groups/artists touch upon the jazz genre. Just naming a few of my favorite artists to explore jazz in the past would be Mr.Children, Nishida Hikaru, and L'arc~en~ciel off the top of my head right now….as there's quite a bit more. I'm probably going to re upload those SPEED tracks to see if that will help…probably in the next couple of days or so. Hmm….I'm beginning to think that possibly no one can identify any of these songs. I thought for sure that some of them would be recognizable with the little hints I left but I know these are difficult to figure out for sure. I'll wait awhile longer before posting the song titles and you may be surprised by some of them as they're all really big hit songs. The jazz arrangements really do hide them well though.I was so surprised too when I first heard!! The timing of my SPEED post is a bit baffling too, I just never really expected them to reunite again….but I really did hope for it!! Their "final" "Bridge" album really showed how SPEED can adapt to the new musical styles of today so I'm sure they're going to sound great! But as far as what kind of sound they'll return with, my sentiments are like your….I'm very curious to hear! I'll let you know when I've reloaded the SPEED audio tracks so you can test them to see if they work okay. 🙂
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Wow I'm so impressed!!! ^-^ I was just thinking that maybe no one would figure these out and so far you're the only one to identify the J-Pop melodies in these arrangements! I'll give it a few more days to see if anyone else is able to figure out any of the 4 tracks which remain and if not, you will have won Tackey & Tsubasa's "Koi uta" Jacket A CD. ^-^
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Here i am again! I was listening to the first song again… i'm not sure, but with the information you gave i think the group is SMAP, right? And you know i love Johnny's artists, but i do not like SMAP (well, i'm starting to like them now -_-). Can the song be "Bokutachi ni ashita wa aru"? I think i can recognize that song but i'm not sure! =P
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That's really great it is Smap! I think the melody will come to you if you keep listening…this single was released later than the one which you named. Speaking of Smap I just received their new single but I'm yet to have a chance to listen to it….they release so few song releases lately that I cherish each and every one. ^-^
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