Hiroki's own creative life began in Sapporo. As noted elsewhere on the web, Hiroki grew up collecting jazz records of early personal music idols like John McLaughlin and Django Reinhardt. By the age of 10, Hiroki had already bought a guitar and in short time began taking his first steps to play out around Tokyo’s storied jazz clubs. Somehow, in 1981, the noted editor of J-Jazz magazine Swing Journal clued in one Teo Macero (of Miles Davis fame) to the stylings of this young upstart. Shortly, Hiroki was signed to a contract with huge Japanese label Phillips and was sent out to NYC to record an album of originals with Teo functioning as producer. Working with truly gifted/prolific jazz session cats like Marcus Miller, Buddy Williams, and Ryo Kawasaki, they’d use his debut album (Manhattan Skyline) to launch off his career. ~ Extract by Diego Olivas, fondsound.com.
Philips Records, 27PJ-1, 1981
Philips/Universal, DCT-1921, 2007
Recorded 17th-18th November,
1980 at Media Sound Studios, New York
Musicians:
Hiroki Miyano - Acoustic
Guitar, Arranger
Jeff Mironov - Acoustic
Guitar, Electric Guitar
Warren Bernhardt - Fender
Rhodes
Jorge Dalto - Acoustic Piano
Ryo Kawasaki - Guitar
Synthesizer
Marcus Miller - Electric Bass
Carol Steele - Percussion
Buddy Williams - Drums
Guests:
George Young - Soprano Sax,
Sopranino (#1,3,5,7,9)
Dave Valentin - Flute (#2,4)
Ilana Morillo - Vocals
(#3,8,9)
Tracks:
1. Let's Make Merry {Hiroki
Miyano} (3:32)
2. Sunset City {Hiroki
Miyano} (6:26)
3. Teo's Dance {Hiroki
Miyano} (5:22)
4. Bird On The Wind {Hiroki
Miyano} (5:23)
5. Slow Down For Love {Earl
Klugh} (4:00)
6. Song Of Clouds {Ryo
Kawasaki} (4:15)
7. Summer Light {Teo Macero}
(3:28)
8. Go Away From Summer
{Hiroki Miyano} (3:15)
9. Manhattan Skyline {Hiroki
Miyano} (5:33)
Total Time: 41:20
Credits:
Executive Producer, Liner
Notes - Hiroki Miyano
Producer, Arranger - Teo
Macero
Recording & Mixing
Engineer - Carl Beatty
Assistant Engineer - Lincoln Clapp
Cutting Engineer - Hiroshi
Yuasa
A&R - Hiroshi Mitsuka
Design - Masao Ohgiya
Photography [Cover] -
Tadayuki Naitoh
Photography - David Tan
