Horace Silver’s 1962 tour of Japan had a profound impact on the pianist who returned to the U.S. and dedicated his subsequent album The Tokyo Blues to his fervent Japanese fans. Along with his quintet featuring trumpeter Blue Mitchell, tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer John Harris Jr., Silver delivered an inspired 5-song set including his alluring originals “The Tokyo Blues,” “Too Much Sake,” “Sayonara Blues,” and “Ah! So,” as well as Ronnell Bright’s lovely ballad “Cherry Blossom.” Silver had noticed a love of Latin music among the Japanese jazz fans he met and in his compositions he sought to “combine the Japanese feeling in the melodies with the Latin feeling in the rhythms.”

Blue Note Tone Poet Series
The Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was’ admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley, a.k.a. the “Tone Poet,” on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels.

Extreme attention to detail has been paid to getting these right in every conceivable way, from the jacket graphics and printing quality to superior LP mastering (direct from the master tapes) by Kevin Gray to superb 180g audiophile LP pressings by Record Technology Inc. Every aspect of these Tone Poet releases is done to the highest possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version. This is IT.

This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.

Tracklist:
A1 Too Much Sake
A2 Sayanora Blues
B1 The Tokyo Blues
B2 Cherry Blossom
B3 Ah! So