Asakawa Maki (浅川マキ)

So I hurd rumors on the internets that Asakawa Maki died. Apparently from a stroke which is not really a surprise because she did smoke a lot. I would tell you this more seriously but I don't take death very seriously (or life for that matter).

So in honor of her passing (read: rip off companies that are now taking all the profits from album sales) I decided to post all of her albums that I have. I previously only posted her Cat Nap but I will include that one here as well for the sake of completion.

Asakawa started her career in the 70s and she was releasing albums all through the 70s, 80s and 90s. During the 00s she took a break and didn't record all that much so in later life like many other musicians she only did live gigs and lived off that. Through all of her career she was mostly active in the jazz genre. All of her albums have this noir and melancholic feeling that makes me love her so much. Her incredibly different vocal ability from the rest of the Japanese singers gives her a sort of unique feel. Rarely you can hear a Japanese sing so low and torn up from cigarette smoke, especially from a female. Musically she varies from decade to decade. I only have one of her albums from the 70s but during the 80s she sounded far more happy and energetic than in the 90s. So yeah, you have a bit of everything in her career.

Where to start? Well I personally started with Cat Nap but I fell in love with her music when I heard Hitomoshigoro. I guess you can go along that route or start from the beginning of her career. Darkness albums have the most tracks and also a lot of improvisation songs, the usual jazz wankery.

1972 - Blue Spirit Blues
1980 - One (EP)
1982 - Cat Nap
1988 - Darkness
1991 - Black
1993 - Hitomoshigoro
1995 - Darkness I
1996 - Darkness II
1997 - Darkness III
1998 - Yami No Naka Ni Okizari Ni Shite-Black Ni Good Luck
2007 - Darkness IV