Ryo Fukui - Live At Vidro ’77 (2021)

I could only dream of the day we’d get some unreleased Ryo Fukui (福居良) music. That dream has now become a reality. The six tracks in this newly released live album, amounting to over an hour of pure gold, were recorded at Sapporo jazz club Vidro on 8th June, 1977. Masataka Ito, producer and sales representative of Trio Records at the time, brought in a 2-track 38cm/s reel-to-reel tape recorder and recorded Fukui’s two-hour long performance. This performance at Vidro took place the year following the release of Fukui’s renowned debut album, ’Scenery’, and not too long before the release of his second album, ’Mellow Dream’. After 23 years, Ito would finally digitise the Vidro tape in 2000, creating a few CD copies to gift to friends of his in Sapporo, including Fukui and his wife Yasuko. Another 21 years after that, altogether 44 years after this performance, and we’re blessed with the rare opportunity to hear Ryo and his original trio outside of the s