Junko Moriya Orchestra “Shifting Images”

“Shifting Images”

(Nippon Crown) 2001     

Moriya plays piano and leads several of her own small groups in Tokyo, but this sixteen-piece band is especially lively, accomplished and fresh. Except for a couple tunes from Ellington and Monk, Moriya wrote and arranged all the pieces.

The well-known producer Don Sickler, a friend during her years studying in the States, was invited over for the session to help integrate the power of the large band.

The musicians are a veritable who’s who of players from around town, so the solos really fly, especially Moriya’s own. This delightful outing by one of the few women to lead a big band in Japan is a tight, swinging, brassy workout.