Teruo Nakamura Group - Unicorn

2019 reissue

Unicorn was bassist Teruo Nakamura’s 1st date as a leader. Recorded & issued in Japan on the legendary Three Blind Mice imprint in 1973, Nakamura had been working in New York since 1964. He’d done a lot of hardscrabble work before 1969 when he landed the gig as bassist in Roy Haynes’ fine group of the time. During that year he formed a band with Steve Grossman & Lenny White, who both appear here. This is an interesting date because it is equally divided between very electric fusion tracks & more modal acoustic numbers.

Grossman plays on all but 1 cut; White appears on 3. Other players include Alphonse Mouzon on 3 cuts (instead of White), George Cables on Rhodes, John Miller on acoustic piano, a young percussionist named Ronald Jackson (born Ronald Shannon Jackson), pianist Hubert Eaves III (later of D Train fame), trumpeter Charles Sullivan, vocalist Sandy Hewitt (on Eaves’ “Understanding” & “Umma Be Me”). Nakamura plays acoustic upright bass on 4 tracks & electric on 2 others.

The music is very much of its time, & though it is a session players gig, with rotating lineups, there is plenty of fire here. Grossman had already done his stint with Miles Davis & is in fine form on soprano (especially on the opening title cut), & tenor on John Coltrane’s “Some Other Blues.” White & Mouzon are both outstanding, so the drum chair is killer throughout, no matter who’s playing, & Cables’ Rhodes work on the Trane cut & “Derrick’s Dance,” written by Miller, is stellar. Nakamura, for his part, is more than an able bassist; he leads by guiding the rhythm & not standing out as a soloist. This set has aged very well.

AMG