TOSHIYUKI SEKINE QUARTET Schallplatten & CDs

Review: It would be fair to say that the latest edition in BBE's 'J-Jazz Masterclass' series of reissues is exceedingly rare. In fact, when it first appeared on Smile Records in 1976, only 100 copies of Hideto Saski-Toshiyuki Sekine Quartet's "Stop Over" were ever produced. The album's rarity is impressive, but it's the quality of the all-acoustic set of hard-bop workouts that makes it an essential purchase. As you might expect, there's plenty to set the pulse racing throughout, from the high-octane rush of opener "Carole's Garden", where dizzying piano solos catch the ear, to the similarly hectic and arguably even more rush-inducing "Stop Over" (a ten minute cut of epic proportions), via the sweet, sparse and contemplative "Soultrane".