Koshi Inaba News

Hey folks, been quite a while since I posted here last time. There haven’t been a lot of updates, though. The supporting members for Koshi Inaba’s ~en II~ tour have been announced a while ago (too bad Stevie Salas isn’t on the list):

Drums: Shane Gaalaas [ http://www.shanegaalaas.com/ ]
Guitar: Yogi Lonich [ http://yogimusic.com/ ]
Guitar: Josh Gooch [ http://www.joshgooch.com/ ]
Bass: Corey McCormick [ http://www.coreymccormickmusic.com/ ]
Keyboard: Onozuka Akira [ http://dimension-tokyo.jp/akiraonline/ ]

Last but not least, here’s the first commercial for Koshi’s new single “Okay”. I have to say it’s pretty good.

Youtube video has been removed due to a copyright claim by bgvjp.

Tak Matsumoto News

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

Koshi Inaba News

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.

“Okay” Track listing:

01. Okay
02. Salvation
03. My Mirai(=Future) — マイミライ

Limited Edition features Okay promotional video on DVD

Pre-order “Okay” regular edition: [CDJapan] — [HMV]
Pre-order “Okay” limited edition: [CDJapan] — [HMV]

News

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

Tak Matsumoto News

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

Price: 3,059 Yen

News

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!

Koshi Video:

Tak Video: