Ayako Hosokawa - Mr. Wonderful

Japanese import

Recorded in 1977

At the age of 14, she was already performing in the American military clubs in Japan, picking up the English language by singing international pop songs of that time. Nowadays, she represents feeling and soul within her songs, no matter whether she sings in English or Japanese. After her marriage, she moved to the United States and was discovered and sponsored by Earl "Fatha" Hines. She found her enthusiastic fans touring San Francisco, Las Vegas, Montreal and lots of places in California, performing in the clubs, local radio stations or on TV. In the '80s, she started a roving life between the United States and Japan.

Due to her recordings for the audiophile Three Blind Mice label and the performances for the radio stations and on TV, she became one of the best-known pop and jazz singers throughout her country. For this album, originally released on TBM, Ayako Hosokawa is backed by a standard line-up of piano, bass, drums, guitar, and tenor sax but also utlizes a string quartet. Backed by a terrific band, Ayako tackles some of the most memorable jazz standards of all time. Couple this with spectacular sonics for a memorable and beautiful album.

with:

Shoji Yokouchi  - guitar

Konosuke Saijo - tenor sax

Tsuyoshi Yamamoto - piano

Isoo Fukui - bass

Tesujiro Obara - drums