Year : 1977
Label : Kitty
Genre : Jazz
Style : Jazz Funk
Also known as the U.S. issue "Manhattan Special" with different cover, "Song Of The Birds" is the third solo album by japanese bassist & multi-instrumentalist Teruo Nakamura. Settled in New York since 1964, Teruo has already worked for the greatest like Stanley Turrentine, George Benson, Roy Haynes, Grover Washington Jr, Helen Merrill, Steve Grossman and many more. Recorded in New York, featuring "The Rising Sun Band", formed by Teruo &guitarist/keyboardist Shiro Mori from the previous album "Rising Sun" in 1976, it includes also some prestigious guests such as Herbie Hancock or trumpeter John Mosley from the Roy Ayers Ubiquity. Titles include pure Jazz Funk tracks to the Headhunters' style (Wiggle Worm, Firefly, Mr. Cherry And Mr. T) and Afro-Latin fusion (Rainbow, Sequoia Forest, Mosquito, Sunrise In Africa). The music of Teruo transcends musical borders of jazz, as evidenced several of his songs which have been sampled by US Hip-Hop artists as such The Roots with "The Cat" (1976) for "Ital (The Universal Side)" or P.M. Dawn with "Firefly" for "Filthy Rich (I Don't Wanna Be)".
THE RISING SUN BAND : Teruo Nakamura - bass, harmonica, synthesizer, percussion - Shiro Mori - guitar, synthesizer - Mark Gray - piano, electric piano, synthesizer, organ - Harry Whitaker - piano, electric piano - Carter Jefferson - tenor, soprano saxophone - Keiji Kishida - drums - Nobu Urushiyama - percussion
