Masaru Imada, Electric Groove
B-side
/
Masaru Imada came to jazz through classical piano training and began playing professionally in the 1950s. By 1964 he was leading his own trio, and during the following decade became closely associated with Three Blind Mice, recording a series of albums that moved between small-group acoustic jazz, solo piano and increasingly electric textures.
What interests me in Imada is the balance between control and curiosity. His playing can be lyrical and restrained, but he repeatedly opens that language to different instrumentation and rhythmic ideas. Green Caterpillar captures that transition particularly clearly.
ACOUSTIC / ELECTRIC
For Green Caterpillar, Imada used electric piano on record for the first time. The A-side moves toward electric groove, with Kazumi Watanabe’s guitar playing an important role, while the second side returns to acoustic piano and a more open jazz setting. All four pieces are Imada compositions.
That contrast gives the album much of its character. It never commits completely to fusion or abandons acoustic jazz; instead, both approaches coexist within the same session.
SELECTED RECORDS
Green Caterpillar — 1975
The title track immediately establishes the electric side of the record: Fender-style keyboard textures, guitar, bass and percussion locked into a long, controlled groove. But the album becomes more interesting as it moves away from that initial formula. Blue Impulse and especially Spanish Flower return the piano to the foreground and create a more spacious, lyrical second half.
For me, that movement between electric rhythm and acoustic piano is what keeps Green Caterpillar from becoming simply a period fusion record. It documents a pianist testing a broader sound without losing the clarity of his earlier playing.
LISTEN / A GREEN CATERPILLAR
Masaru Imada — piano, electric piano
Kazumi Watanabe — guitar
Isoo Fukui — bass
Tetsujiro Obara — drums
Yuji Imamura — percussion
Produced by: Takeshi Fujii
Engineer: Yoshihiko Kannari
Recorded: January 20 & 22, 1975
Location: Aoi Studio, Tokyo
Original issue: Three Blind Mice, TBM-39, 1975 j
Masaru Imada came to jazz through classical piano training and began playing professionally in the 1950s. By 1964 he was leading his own trio, and during the following decade became closely associated with Three Blind Mice, recording a series of albums that moved between small-group acoustic jazz, solo piano and increasingly electric textures.
What interests me in Imada is the balance between control and curiosity. His playing can be lyrical and restrained, but he repeatedly opens that language to different instrumentation and rhythmic ideas. Green Caterpillar captures that transition particularly clearly.
ACOUSTIC / ELECTRIC
For Green Caterpillar, Imada used electric piano on record for the first time. The A-side moves toward electric groove, with Kazumi Watanabe’s guitar playing an important role, while the second side returns to acoustic piano and a more open jazz setting. All four pieces are Imada compositions.
That contrast gives the album much of its character. It never commits completely to fusion or abandons acoustic jazz; instead, both approaches coexist within the same session.
SELECTED RECORDS
Green Caterpillar — 1975
The title track immediately establishes the electric side of the record: Fender-style keyboard textures, guitar, bass and percussion locked into a long, controlled groove. But the album becomes more interesting as it moves away from that initial formula. Blue Impulse and especially Spanish Flower return the piano to the foreground and create a more spacious, lyrical second half.
For me, that movement between electric rhythm and acoustic piano is what keeps Green Caterpillar from becoming simply a period fusion record. It documents a pianist testing a broader sound without losing the clarity of his earlier playing.
LISTEN / A GREEN CATERPILLAR
Masaru Imada — piano, electric piano
Kazumi Watanabe — guitar
Isoo Fukui — bass
Tetsujiro Obara — drums
Yuji Imamura — percussion
Produced by: Takeshi Fujii
Engineer: Yoshihiko Kannari
Recorded: January 20 & 22, 1975
Location: Aoi Studio, Tokyo
Original issue: Three Blind Mice, TBM-39, 1975 j
