Miyuki Moriya: Beyond the Sea
Beyond the Sea is saxophonist Miyuki Moriya’s fourth album as a leader, which she released in 2024 with her regular quartet of Mamoru Ishida (piano), Junichi Sato (bass), and Sohnosuke Imaizumi (drums). This album contains nine tracks over sixty-eight minutes and features mostly originals from the saxophonist, with two specially selected cover songs from Japanese jazz musicians that influenced her most in her jazz life.
One of those personal heroes is saxophonist Kosuke Mine, who joins the group as a special guest and adds his engagingly vibrant tenor sax sound on five of the nine tracks. Those include two of the album’s peaks for excitement (the edge-of-your-seat #2 “Flip a Coin” and the funkily thrillseeking #5 “Maverick”) as well as Mine’s introspective ballad #7 “After the Checkout” where the two saxes converse over melancholy piano chords to set a dramatic scene.
Liner Notes
(Translated from Miyuki Moriya’s original Japanese liner notes.)
As always, thank you for picking up and listening to this album.
Although Beyond the Sea is my fourth album as a leader, it feels like a continuation of my first album Cat’s Cradle which I released in 2010. For this new recording, there are songs that I’ve been working on for years, new songs written for this album, and two songs by musicians whom I respect greatly. Since this is fully packed with nine songs (at over an hour!) I hope that you stick with me through to the end.
About the musicians, two have been with me for close to twenty years and played on my first album: pianist Mamoru Ishida and drummer Sohnosuke Imaizumi. Bassist Junichi Sato has been with this band since April 2021. Incidentally, being able to meet him was a trigger to making this album.
This time we were also joined by a special guest, the beloved saxophone player Kosuke Mine, who I have endless respect for both musically and as a human being.
When I was still a youngster in my early twenties (yes, there was such a time… haha) and a total beginner in jazz, I was looked after by the owner of a local jazz spot called Swing House in my hometown of Takamatsu. One day, a regular customer told me “Kosuke Mine is coming here, and you definitely should hear him!” So, when he came to perform as a touring member with guitarist Yoshiaki Masuo, that’s when I first met and heard Mine-san. (Mine-san probably doesn’t remember that time, but ever since then, he has been incredibly kind and wonderful to me!) I bought his Major to Minor album at the time, and it’s continuously been one of my favorites. To be honest, I only knew about bebop then, so it was a bit of a challenge at first. But every now and then, I would pull out the record, listen to it, and think “Wow, this is really, really cool!” And, the more I continued to play jazz, the more captivated I became by his sound and his playing. A few years later in Tokyo, I was able to meet Mine-san again, and I even stood on the same stage as him. The fact that the day finally came when I could play with him on my own leader album is truly like a dream come true. I feel very blessed.
I’ll briefly introduce the songs.
Cicada's Blues (Miyuki Moriya)
This is a blues inspired by the life of a cicada. They say that some cicadas remain in the earth for seven years, but apparently, the type that lives in Japan only stays underground for four to five years at most. The fact that they only live for one week after emerging is based on observations under breeding conditions, and it seems that their actual lives and behavior are not well understood. It may be that their happiest times are sleeping deep in the earth while dreaming of the whole wide world.
Flip a Coin (Miyuki Moriya)
It means a coin toss. This song was written for this album, and the key is the slightly tricky bass line in the intro. I imagined the anticipation, the nervousness, and the thrill that can come at times when one is readying for victory or defeat, or taking a step into a new world while trying to suppress feelings of excitement.
父母ヶ浜 (Miyuki Moriya)
There is a beach in my hometown in the Kagawa Prefecture where the sunsets are very beautiful. My grandmother’s house is nearby, so when I was young, I would go to swim in the sea there in the summer. It’s a wide, shallow beach, so at low tide, a large pool of water is formed and beautifully reflects the sky like a mirror. Recently, it’s become a very popular tourist spot, dubbed Japan’s Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni Salt Flats).
Melancholy Marie (Miyuki Moriya)
This is a song I wrote to celebrate the birthday of Mariko-san, the cute wife of Miyazaki-san who runs the jazz bar Cochi in Koiwa. It’s a fun and relaxing place that I visit almost every month. The ever-kind Mariko-san always worries about her husband, as he loves alcohol a lot and sometimes drinks too much. They are an incredibly wonderful couple.
Maverick (Miyuki Moriya)
It means a lone wolf, a rebel. The barmaster of the jazz bar Salt Peanuts in Ekoda has been taking care of our band for many years. This tough character has seen the Tom Cruise movie Top Gun: Maverick at the movie theater more than 50 times! We choose the title of this song in appreciation for him.
Beyond the Sea (Miyuki Moriya)
I love the blue seas of Japan’s southern islands. I wrote this song during the self-isolation period in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. At the time, I was hoping to break free as soon as possible and escape to a southern island. In fact, I wrote this with inspiration taken from the song “The Color of Peace” by the wonderful pianist Hajime Yoshizawa.
After the Checkout (Kosuke Mine)
This is a beautiful ballad written by Kosuke Mine. It so goes that he wrote this song in the studio right after checking out of an establishment for mountain seclusion, where he would sometimes go alone in order to practice and compose. No matter how many times I play this song, I’m deeply moved. It’s one of my personal favorites.
PAPA Julian (Miyuki Moriya)
This is a swing number inspired by “Cannonball”, aka saxophone player Julian Edwin Adderley. I wrote this about twenty years ago and since then many people have performed it. It’s a piece that I’m personally pleased with, and it has become a familiar song at this band’s live performances.
After Dark (Hidefumi Toki)
This is a ballad by my esteemed instructor Hidefumi Toki. The person I have become today, who is able to continue playing jazz from then to now, is the result of my meeting Toki-san. I still treasure the things he taught me and the courage he gave me. It was an honor to be one of his students. With gratitude.
This album has a completely different atmosphere compared to my earlier two albums. My album from two releases ago, Mukashi Mukashi, paid respect to the free jazz of 1970s Japan. My previous release Uta Oto was inspired by nature, the Earth, and distant foreign lands. I hope that listeners who have been with me since earlier albums will enjoy this change. At the same time, I hope that new audiences who may be hearing me for the first time through this album will also be inspired to explore the different sides of Miyuki Moriya that I’ve created so far.
At the beginning of these liner notes, I mentioned that this album feels like a continuation of my first album. While our situations and environments have changed over the years, I’m extremely happy to be able to put out this work together. These great, hardworking musicians who I’ve played with up to now and into the future still remind me of the fresh and energetic feelings that I had when I first started playing.
守谷美由貴 Miyuki Moriya
Obi Notes
The sky, the breeze, the blue. Sax player Miyuki Moriya welcomes veteran tenor player Kosuke Mine as a special guest on her summer album that is making a splash.
Beyond the Sea by Miyuki Moriya
Miyuki Moriya - alto sax, soprano sax
Kosuke Mine - tenor sax (#2, 3, 5, 6, 7)
Mamoru Ishida - piano
Junichi Sato - bass
Sohnosuke Imaizumi - drums
Released in 2024 on Coume Music as CUM-2401
Japanese names: Miyuki Moriya 守谷美由貴 (Moriya Miyuki) Kosuke Mine 峰厚介 (Mine Kosuke) Mamoru Ishida 石田衛 (Ishida Mamoru) Junichi Sato 佐藤潤一 (Sato Junichi) Sohnosuke Imaizumi 今泉総之輔 (Imaizumi Sohnosuke)
Related Albums
Kohsuke Mine Quintet: Major to Minor (1993)
Miyuki Moriya: Cat's Cradle (2010)
Miyuki Moriya: Uta Oto (2021)
Audio and Video
Excerpt from “Flip a Coin”, track #2 on this album: