This is the sixth release in BBE's J Jazz Masterclass Series, curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden. The ‘J’ stands for Japan, and this particular instalment is a super-rare set from 1976 recorded by amateur musicians from Chuo University's Modern Jazz study group. The original pressing for the Smile label was tiny: there were no more than 100 copies, and perhaps only 50 (according to producer Hiroyuki Inokari).

Though it was recorded at the height of the fusion era, it's a strictly acoustic hard bop affair delivered in the manner of a late 1950s Blue Note set. Opener ‘Carole's Garden’ comes out of the gates like a bullet train. Like four of the five tracks here, it's a cover. That one was written by Denny Zeitlin, but there's also Tadd Dameron's ‘Soultrane’, Cedar Walton's ‘Turquoise Twice’ and Bobby Hutcherson's ‘Little B's Poem’. The only original, the title track, brings the set to a close in suitably unrelenting style. The album is ultimately an interesting oddity rather than an essential classic, but the original sleeve notes have been translated and supplemented with an informative essay by Higgins, and, given the tiny number of copies originally produced, the double vinyl version should be highly attractive to Japanese jazz aficionados.