Listening Project Chapter 2: T-SQUARE
Unlike CASIOPEA, I had never listened to T-Square before I started this project. When I saw the size of T-Square's formidable discography, I knew I would be in for a ride.
78 albums (!!!) later, I am finally done.
Funnily enough, the 78th album (a double live album) released literally YESTERDAY, the day I finished everything else! I thought I was done, and then saw by chance on T-Square's main Spotify page that they had just released a new album. So I started it right away, and finished it this morning. Now I am TRULY done (at least until the next album comes out). Out of those 78 albums, I saved 109 songs.
T-Square is a Japanese jazz fusion band much like Casiopea, with the same keys/guitar/bass/drums but with the important addition of a saxophonist. While the alto saxophone (and EWI) is a signature part of T-Square's sound, the first like...40 albums are essentially solo alto saxophone with rhythm section accompaniment. With apologies to my saxophonist friends, I do not like the alto saxophone enough to listen to it play all the melodies and solos for 40 straight albums.
The band's writing is consistently excellent from their first album in 1978 to the one from yesterday, but I found myself often wishing that the great melodies were played by a horn section rather than one saxophone. The other downside of this saxophone-oriented music is that it gave no room for the other 4 members, all fabulous musicians, to shine. This becomes particularly evident in later albums where you do start to hear guitar and keyboard solos, which are always excellent and make you wonder why the band waited so long to give them even a melody, let alone a solo.
All that being said, this band has made some incredible music that I really love, and I am so thrilled to have gone on this journey.
My favorite T-Square albums:
夏の惑星 (Natsu no wakusei) (1994)
宝島 (Takarajima) (w/Munich Symphony) (1995)
Wordless Anthology II (1999)
33 (2007)
Wings (2012)
Crème de la Crème (2020)
Honorable mentions:
Truth (1987)
New-S (1991)
Impressive (1992)
Brasil (2001)
Groove Globe (2004)
Nine Stories (2011)
City Coaster (2018)