Yes, you're reading this right. Larry Carlton's and Tak Matsumoto's "TAKE YOUR PICK" is going to be in stores in the United States and Europe on June 15th, 2010! A tour has yet to be announced for Europe, but we will keep our hopes up! There has been no word on pricing, by the way. However, the distributor for Europe is going to be in-akustik.
As for Japan's tour, the support members have been announced! Which means that from June 12th onwards, these fine people will be accompanying Tak and Larry during their tour:
Bass : Michael Rhodes
Drums : John Ferraro
Keybord : Billy Steinway
Finally Koshi has announced one of his new solo productions for us to enjoy. His new single entitled "Okay" is going to be out in Japan on June 23rd, 2010! Unfortunately, the theme song for the renewed news show "News 23X" won't be on the disc. Instead, you're going to be able to enjoy 3 fresh tracks written and arranged by Koshi himself. As previously reported, Koshi went to Los Angeles to have a recording session with Stevie Salas, who is featured on tracks 1 and 3 on this release. Also, as previously seen on the video that was shown on the official website, Shane Gaalaas will be handling the drumset in all 3 tracks recorded.
The promotional video was shot in New Mexico at the White Sands National Monument and will be featured on DVD in the limited edition of the single. Prices are 1260 Yen for the regular edition and 1575 Yen for the limited edition.
Now, this is really interesting. Koshi's live tour is announced before even his new album is announced? Ridiculous. Also, look at the prices... they've raised them quite a bit considering it's not a major B'z tour. As for Tak Matsumoto's tour, currently there are tour dates available only for Japan. It was also to be expected that Tak is going to perform in small clubs/venues. Shows have also been confirmed for South-east Asia, but no dates were given yet. There's also a possibilty that Tak will perform in Europe and Australia! So let's keep our heads up, folks!
Details for Tak Matsumoto's tour:
Larry Carlton & Tak Matsumoto LIVE 2010 “TAKE YOUR PICK”
Ticket price: 10,500 Yen ($112/83€)
June 12th, 2010 -- Motion Blue Yokohama
June 13th, 2010 -- Motion Blue Yokohama
June 16th, 2010 -- Zepp Osaka
June 17th, 2010 -- Zepp Osaka
June 19th, 2010 -- Zepp Fukuoka
June 22nd, 2010 -- Nagoya Blue Note
June 23rd, 2010 -- Nagoya Blue Note
June 24th, 2010 -- Nagoya Blue Note
June 27th, 2010 -- Blue Note Tokyo
June 28th, 2010 -- Blue Note Tokyo
June 29th, 2010 -- Blue Note Tokyo
July 1st,2010 -- Blue Note Tokyo
July 2nd, 2010 -- Blue Note Tokyo
July 3rd, 2010 -- Blue Note Tokyo
Details for Koshi Inaba's tour:
Koshi Inaba LIVE 2010 ～enⅡ～
Ticket price for SS seats: 10,500 Yen ($112/83€)
Ticket price for S seats: 7,500 Yen ($80/59€)
August 21st, 2010 -- Ecopa Arena
August 24th, 2010 -- Osaka Jou(Castle) Hall
August 29th, 2010 -- Asty Tokushima
September 11th, 2010 -- Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center
September 12th, 2010 -- Hokaido Prefectural Sports Center
September 18th, 2010 -- Toki Messe, Niigata Convention Center
September 22nd, 2010 -- Sekisui Heim Super Arena
September 23rd, 2010 -- Sekisui Heim Super Arena
September 28th, 2010 -- Nippon Bodoukan
September 30th, 2010 -- Nippon Budoukan
October 1st, 2010 -- Nippon Budoukan
October 6th, 2010 -- Kobe World Kinen Hall
October 10th, 2010 -- Marine Messe Fukuoka
October 11th, 2010 -- Marine Messe Fukuoka
October 15h, 2010 -- Kagoshima Arena
October 16th, 2010 -- Kagoshima Arena
October 23rd, 2010 -- Hiroshima Green Arena
October 24th, 2010 -- Hiroshima Green Arena
October 27th, 2010 -- Nippongaishi Hall
October 28th, 2010 -- Nippongaishi Hall
This is what we've all been waiting for! Larry Carlton and Tak Matsumoto have announced today, that their collaboration album, "TAKE YOUR PICK", is going to be released in Japan on June 2nd, 2010. It's going retail at a price of 3,059 Yen (approx. $32 / 24€).
While this is a pretty hefty price tag for an album that doesn't contain additional content such as a DVD, I'm sure we'll all forget about the price once we get to listen to all 12 quality tracks, half of them arranged and written by Tak Matsumoto, half of them arranged and written by Larry Carlton. Seeing as how the album is evenly split among songs by Tak Matsumoto and Larry Carlton, "TAKE YOUR PICK" seems as fitting for such an album as a title will ever be. Die-hard fans would even say that this album is the compilation of the best music from the west, and the best music from the far east. Larry Carlton's style is pretty bluesy, too, and thus it was only a matter of time until these two great musicians met.
Taking a look at the cover of this album, it becomes clear that this is indeed a mixture of American music and Japanese music, illustrated by 2 guitar picks with their respective national flags on it. It has got a lot of meaning to it, if you closely analyze the cover. It is very simplistic and yet gets the message across. A lot of cover artists fail to do so nowadays.
The track listing, no doubt, reveals a very blues, jazz oriented album, that, I bet, does not fail to have the fan listen to the best of the best, when it comes to Larry Carlton's works as well as Tak Matsumoto's works.
Overseas fans, unfortunately, will probably have to wait a little longer to get their hands on this masterpiece as this press release by Larry Carlton & Tak Matsumoto does not illustrate whether the album will be internationally available, or not. Stay tuned for more news!
"TAKE YOUR PICK" Track listing:
01. JAZZY BULLETS
02. Nite Crawler 2010
03. THE WAY WE WERE
04. Islands of Japan
05. Neon Blue
06. Tokyo Night
07. hotalu
08. East West Stroll
09. Easy Mystery
10. ao
11. Take Your Pick
12. A girl from China
Tracks arranged and written by Larry Carlton: 02, 04, 05, 08, 09, 11
Tracks arranged and written by Tak Matsumoto: 01, 03, 06, 07, 10, 12
As of today, it's completely official: Tak and Koshi have been working on solo projects.
Tak Matsumoto's Solo Project
As previously reported, Larry Carlton is working on a new album with Tak. According to B'z Official Website, the album is due for June 2010 along with a tour! And here's the thing, the album will probably be available internationally!
Koshi Inaba's Solo Project
Not so much is known about Koshi Inaba's solo project, not even a release date! However the song we reported about is called "Kono Te wo Totte Hashiri Dashite" (Take this hand and run), it will be the theme song for the renewed news show "NEWS 23X" on TBS. Tour has been planned, too.
Now, I know you all hate the small videos on the B'z website... well, I took the time and upsized them a bit... Look who's in the Koshi video! Shane and Stevie Salas! If anyone knows the other guy there, let me know in the comments!
So, wow, I just spotted this on a Japanese blog. The guitar looks pretty amazing. It's named "TAK'S MACHINE #0005".
Well, if you look at the pictures, it's only obvious, that it's called "a machine".
Tak Matsumoto of B'z (one of the greatest Japanese rock bands in history) and Stephen met in March of 2009 in Los Angeles. Tak visited the shop and decided that he wanted to play McSwain guitars. He and McSwain designed a smaller version of the original McSwain body shape for the guitars Tak ordered. This is what is now affectionately referred to as the "McSwain Jr." Domo Arigato Tak-san!!!! See you in Tokyo!
Apparently this has been around for some time, and it has not been officially announced yet, however, we do have a source to confirm it: WBA Entertainment Inc.
For those who don't know Larry Carlton, he's an American jazz fusion, pop, rock guitarist and a singer. Throughout his career he's earned 3 Grammy awards for his works.
And here's what they write in the announcement:
Larry Carlton & Tak Matsumoto
Recording a new album together in September 2009
Touring together in 2010 & 2011
Carlton's melodic yet aggressive approach to writing and playing on this CD blended with Tak's proven ability to write and perform Hit songs make for a unique Guitar experience. Drawing upon their knowledge and different music backgrounds Larry & Tak have forged Eastern and Western guitar styles to create a truly magical and unique album unlike any other. The best of East and West!
[...]
Now, in February 2010 Larry Carlton announced, that the projects with Robben Ford, with Keb Mo, with Tak Matsumoto and his album honoring Gamble & Huff’s Sounds of Philadelphia (T.S.O.P) are already completed or in their final stages of completion.
Right after the tour is over, B'z official website got updated to show a new opening video stating that the live video will hit in both DVD and Blu-Ray (Yes, that's high-definition B'z!!) flavors soon.
Kine Naoto has been famous in the 80's with the band TM Network, which he also founded together with Komuro Tetsuya and Utsunomiya Takashi in 1983. Tak Matsumoto also used to support TM Network with his guitar skills by producing some songs that involved an electric guitar.
To no surprise it seems that Kine Naoto has been keeping in touch with Tak ever since. So now Tak has collaborated with an old friend from the pre-B'z days, and it's going to be track number #6 on the new album "Chuo-Line"(that's a train line in Tokyo) by Kine Naoto. According to his official site, it's going to be a folk-style album.
The title of the song Tak is collaborating on is "Mitaka Blues". One can imagine that it's no surprise that Tak is called in for a blues session on the spot.
The album will be out April 7th, 2010 and will be priced at 3060 Yen.
This is what we've all been waiting for! Larry Carlton and Tak Matsumoto have announced today, that their collaboration album, "TAKE YOUR PICK", is going to be released in Japan on June 2nd, 2010. It's going retail at a price of 3,059 Yen (approx. $32 / 24€).
