Anyone live in Japan? Heard of Kazumi Watanabe??

[mikeratan00]

Hey any one listened to Kazumi Watanabe, Jazz Fusion guitarist ?
He was one of the most influencial Japanese guitarists in the 80's-90's.

[jazzguitarplay]

i saw him play in the 80's in the ft lauderdale area. amazing player. always wondered what happened to him?

[Don L]

heard him play on a couple of records back in the '80s. pretty good stuff...

[Lance]

Haven't heard his name mentioned in a long while. Haven't heard any of his music in just about as long. I do recall him being pretty baddass!

[mikeratan00]

Yeah he is badass for sure. Saw him live in Bangkok a few times when he was endorsing Valley Arts guitars, and also in Tokyo ............. I think he still plays the local club scene in Tokyo........

[tonefreak]

Kazumi Watanabe... wow haven't heard of that name in a while.

Look up these as well,

Masahiro Andoh (T-Square & solo)
Masayoshi Takanaka
Issei Noro (Casiopea & solo)

[mdog114]

2 thumbs up!

[Carltone]

His music and dvds are available at www.abstractlogix.com

I really recommend his awesome dvd with Richard Bona on bass and Horatio Hernadez on Drums~called Mo Bop! It's a classic!!

http://www.abstractlogix.com/xcart/image.php?type=P&id=20688


http://www.abstractlogix.com/xcart/product.php?productid=20688&cat=0&page=1

[Neer]

I used to have at least a dozen Kazumi records in the 80s. All of the Gramavision releases were good. The Mobo I and II were very good. I have some live tapes of him laying around somewhere....

[epluribus]

WJZZ in Detroit used to play him a lot back in the day. Haven't thought about him in a long time tho. Hm...

[moj067]

Yes, I have one of his albums from the early nineties. He was playing a black PRS and sounded Holdsworthy. Very skilled, don't know what he's doing now.

[george4908]

Hell of a player. Pick up the double CD Mobo I and II if you can. A mixture of fusion/funk/ambient. Great atmosphere and there are a couple of truly great, long and well-constructed solos on there that absolutely burn. Saw him live in a small club once. Way too loud for the space, but I was glad I went.

[GerryJ]

Yatokesa (Mobo#3)
fantastic brooding song over an ostinato bass line.

[Brett Valentine]

I remember picking up "Mobo" on record and being blown away.

Here's a vid of him with Cassiopea (another band I was into back in the 80's) hard to hear Kazumi's playing, but still good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2DMYgMYsXU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2DMYgMYsXU)

Here's another one (same problem, but also great playing)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq-PdzIHX_k

[Bassomatic]

Big in the 80's.

[tim gueguen]

Still active, and lots of stuff on Youtube. Here for example is Watanabe playing with Yellow Magic Orchestra on their '79 tour, playing an Aria Pro II RS850. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iH0_TDP6BQ