The Okino brothers can be seen as Jazzanova's Japanese cousins. As Kyoto Jazz Massive, they are largely responsible for the popularity of jazz in Japanese nightlife. As DJs, producers, club owners and remixers, they have contributed to the rise of nu jazz with their futuristic mix of jazz, bossa, brasil, latin, house and broken beats, including by releasing their first material through the Compost
… label. . Unfortunately, their great love for sterile produced seventies fusion has ensured that things on their debut go very smoothly. Spirit Of The Sun opens very promisingly with the rousing The Brightness Of These Days, in which vocalist Vanessa Freeman has a grateful guest role. There is also nice funk to be found on Stargazer and Behind The Shadow, but for the rest a large part of the music comes to overproduced smoothness with Between The Lights as the low point, which sounds like Kenny G. fireplace. Other songs have a nice start, until it seems as if the Love Boat is passing by, that's how cringing it sounds. However, there are enough bright spots on Spirit Of The Sun to look forward to the next CD. (AD)more