ProJazz.net

Kogun is the first album recorded by the Los Angeles-based Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band. It was released in Japan by Victor in 1974 and received the Swing Journal Silver Disk prize for that year. It was later released by RCA in the USA and elsewhere and received a 1979 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance by a Big Band.

The Allmusic review by Daniel Gioffre awarded the album 4 stars and stated “It’s a record that is simultaneously driving, romantic, and experimental, seductive in its implications and undeniable in its swing. A difficult combination, to be sure, but one for which Akiyoshi clearly has the winning formula”.

Track listing:
All songs composed and arranged by Toshiko Akiyoshi
LP side A

“Elegy” – 9:13
“Memory” – 10:24

LP side B

“Kogun” – 6:49
“American Ballad” – 5:49
“Henpecked Old Man” – 9:08

Personnel:
Toshiko Akiyoshi – piano
Lew Tabackin – tenor saxophone
Tom Peterson – tenor saxophone
Dick Spencer – alto saxophone
Gary Foster – alto saxophone
Bill Perkins – baritone saxophone
Bobby Shew – trumpet
John Madrid – trumpet
Don Rader – trumpet
Mike Price – trumpet
Charles Loper – trombone
Jim Sawyer – trombone
Britt Woodman – trombone
Phil Teele – bass trombone
Gene Cherico – bass
Peter Donald – drums
Scott Elsworth – voice (on “Memory”)

__________________________

Released: 1974
Recorded: Sage & Sand Studio Hollywood, California, 1974 April 3~4
Length: 41:23
Label: Victor (Japan), RCA (U.S.)
Producer: Toshiko Akiyoshi and Hiroshi Isaka