Masabumi Kikuchi - Susto (Remastered) (1981/2025) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

An underrated gem from one of the Japanese jazz greats, Susto is essentially Masabumi Kikuchi doing his best Miles Davis electric period impression… and it works! Kikuchi brings on former Davis sax players Dave Liebman and Steve Grossman along with his good friend Terumasa Hino and some of the best New York session musicians to craft four long-form electronic fusion tracks that are deeply hypnotic, rhythmic, and funky. All four tracks are great, though, if we had to pick a favorite, it might have to be the perfectly frantic jazz dance opener “Circle/Line” which features an ostinato bass groove and some psychedelic synth sounds from Kikuchi. Also important to note: the album was produced by the great James Mason, who you probably know from his Rhythm Of Life LP. Big thanks to Jeff Parker for playing this one at our summer listening residency!

Kikuchi's most successful album, both artistically and commercially, was his 1981 Columbia release Susto, which was recorded around the same time as his collaboration with his friend Terumasa Hino, on the latter's groove LP Double Rainbow. Similarly, Kikuchi ploughed a single-minded funkathon groove over four long tracks. Taking his lead from Miles Davis' mid-70s funk band, Kikuchi invited Hino to play trumpet in addition to former Davis sax stars Dave Liebman and Steve Grossman. Kikuchi then reinforced his ensemble with an arsenal of guitarists and percussionists far beyond the point of overkill, but not with the same obliteration of ego that Miles achieved on such albums as Get Up with It and Agharta. Susto's high water mark is the fifteen-minute album closer "New Native", which actually features four guitarists – Billy Patterson, Butch Campbell, Ronnie Drayton and producer James Mason – plus two drummers and two percussionists. Ironically, the only track to omit trumpeter Hino is a failure, "Gumbo" being a lame lopsided reggae-disco piece of the style Can were want to lay on us around the time of Saw Delight. However, as Susto was dedicated to "Alexander Calder, Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Gyorgy Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Toru Takemitsu", it's pretty clear where Kikuchi's pleasure centres truly lay.

TRACKLIST

1. Masabumi Kikuchi - Circle/Line
2. Masabumi Kikuchi - City Snow
3. Masabumi Kikuchi - Gumbo
4. Masabumi Kikuchi - New Native
5. Masabumi Kikuchi - Gumbo (Edit Take)
6. Masabumi Kikuchi - Circle/Line (Edit Take)



Thanks to the Original customer.