Got this today from Hagerty's new Community Editor, the one and only Sajeev Mehta. Every track on this mix slaps, as the kids say nowadays. Certainly a few of my readers will be annoyed by the cultural implications of Japanese musicians playing fusion with a header image of a "JDM"-style C3 Corvette at a Japanese trackday. The irony is that Japanese listeners are all but singlehandedly supporting jazz and blues nowadays. I've read more than a couple interviews with both fusion and trad-jazz types where they say something along the lines of "You have to tour America because that's how you maintain credibility, but the venues are half-empty and the people who do show up are a pain in the ass. But the Japanese audiences will sell out a concert hall and make you glad you got on the plane." Certainly a not-so-close look at the published touring itinerary of any jazz player will reveal as many Tokyo dates as there are "flyover country" gigs --- or more.
Oh well. At least the Japanese like the good stuff. A friend of mine spent several years working for Sheryl Crow. Said that any time she needed to fill up her mad-money account she'd head to China for a corporate gig. What's it cost to have Sheryl Crow play "All I Wanna Do" in China? Fifteen years ago, it was a million dollars PLUS EXPENSES. Imagine having seven figures to pay for music... and buying Sheryl Crow!