Caretta Shiodome in Tokyo used to routinely host amateur bands to perform during the afternoon in its outdoor Turtle Fountain Plaza. So enjoyable! In early 2007, Nobuyuki Mizuoka (水岡のぶゆき) performed this uplifting rendition of his original melody “Kizuna (きずな)" on his Yamaha keyboard, backed by the capable electric bass and drums of two young guys who achieved a beautiful synergy for this piece. The video is a testament to the dedication and mastery of all creative artists in Japan.

More at https://songharvest.net/

The background music of this video is a free-form live-house piano performance by Nobuyuki Mizuoka that I recorded in 2012.

More about this song and its composer:
https://songharvest.net/index.php/2021/02/01/sirius-contemplation/

According to online biographical info, Luther Vandross made his career breakthrough in the 1980s as a featured vocalist with the pop-dance act Change, a studio concept created by French-Italian businessman Jacques Fred Petrus. Vandross was the lead singer on the group's debut album tracks "The Glow of Love" and "Searching," which became huge hits at the time. In a 2001 interview with Vibe, Vandross said that "The Glow of Love" has been "the most beautiful song I've ever sung in my life." Possessing an exceptional tenor vocal range, Luther Vandross was commonly referred to as "The Velvet Voice" and "The Best Voice of a Generation," also being hailed as the "Pavarotti of Pop" by many music critics. In 2008, he was ranked No. 54 on Rolling Stone Magazine's "List of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time." During his career, Vandross sold over 35 million records worldwide and received eight Grammy Awards, including the "Best Male R&B Vocal Performance" award four separate times. In 2004, Vandross won another four Grammys all in one go, the biggest award of the night being his own composition "Dance with My Father" as Song of the Year. Throughout his career, Vandross was an in-demand background vocalist for other famous artists, including Judy Collins, Chaka Khan, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Barbra Streisand, Ben E. King, and Donna Summer.

Official website: https://luthervandross.com/

Change — The Remix Album on iTunes: https://music.apple.com/jp/album/the-remix-album-change-your-mind/1413459836?l=en

More about Luther Vandross: https://infogalactic.com/info/Luther_Vandross

“My Favorite Things” from composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” is much beloved in Japan. Pianist Nobuyuki Mizuoka performs this classic melody with an upbeat arrangement of his own. Blog post about the video: https://songharvest.net/?p=913

In weaving his melody for the mashup "Go Out and Love Someone," Pogo deftly incorporates conversational segments from the 1962 British comedy film “Carry On Cruising,” which is available in the public domain on archive.org

Carry On Cruising
https://archive.org/details/CarryOnCruising1962

The music mashup artist Pogo can be found online at:

http://pogomix.net/
https://pogomix.bandcamp.com/
https://infogalactic.com/info/Pogo#Music   
https://www.discogs.com/artist/1574510-Pogo-11      
https://soundcloud.com/pogomix/

Last half of an original composition performed live in 2012.
https://songharvest.net
http://mizuoka.com/

Original composition performed by Nobuyuki Mizuoka on 27 June 2013. Photographs by A. Kurita.

https://songharvest.net/

This exhilarating original Nobuyuki Mizuoka composition is the seventh track on his 2009 album "Life." Mizuoka-san seems to have a bottomless creative capability that may very well catapult him to great heights as an international-caliber composer-arranger.

Piano: Nobuyuki Mizuoka 水岡のぶゆき
Guitar: Hiroaki Okabe 岡部浩明
Bass: Naoki Koyama 小山尚希
Drums: Masaki Akiba 秋葉正樹

Photographs of Nobuyuki Mizuoka and Tokyo Dome are the property of A. Kurita. Public-domain images were sourced at Wikimedia Commons and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

https://songharvest.net

水岡 のぶゆき
The unique melodies of Composer-Pianist Nobuyuki Mizuoka are routinely featured in the background music of the TV-Asahi Channel’s weekly 秘湯ロマン program (“Hitou Roman — Hidden Hot Spring Romance" at http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/hitou/) in Japan. “Hitou Roman” was profiled in Yahoo News Japan in October 2018, the program’s 20th Anniversary Year: https://tinyurl.com/yb6xpa52

Here is an elegant, seasoned live rendition performed in 2012 by Composer-Pianist Nobuyuki Mizuoka seven years after he debuted this classic original Christmas song in December 2005.* Video footage and most photographs by A. Kurita; out-of-country stills from Wikimedia Commons.

A studio recording of this song first appeared on Nobuyuki Mizuoka's "Departure" album released in November 2006. Mizuoka-san has a bottomless creative capability that may very well catapult him to great heights as an international-caliber composer-arranger. And how wonderful it would be for that to happen in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics!

The unique melodies of Composer-Pianist Nobuyuki Mizuoka are routinely featured in the background music of the TV-Asahi Channel’s weekly 秘湯ロマン (“Hitou Roman” — Hidden Hot Spring Romance) program in Japan: http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/hitou/
“Hitou Roman” was profiled in Yahoo News Japan in October 2018, the program’s 20th Anniversary Year: https://tinyurl.com/yb6xpa52

http://mizuoka.com
https://songharvest.net

* The live performance that debuted this beautiful composition in 2005: https://youtu.be/_roaFefoyWY

This video is an introductory sampler to a cross-cultural mix of traditional Azeri folk songs and new, original music performed on piano and taiko drums, representing a CD project that came out very well! 😃

Pianist Gulnara Azuma-Safarova
http://gnsafarova-piano.com/

International Music School Musiqi-Ebi
https://musiqi-evi.com/english/

Taiko Artist Kenji Furutate
http://www.kenjiwan.com/

Pianist Nobuyuki Mizuoka performs live his stylization of “花は咲く (Hana Wa Saku / Flowers Will Bloom),” a song composed by Yoko Kanno and Shunji Iwai for the NHK Broadcasting System in tie with the international humanitarian response to the 8.8 magnitude earthquake and accompanying tsunami that devastated Japan’s northeastern (Tōhoku) region on March 11, 2011.

Photography from A. Kurita and Wikimedia Commons.

About the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami:
https://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html
https://infogalactic.com/info/Timeline_of_the_Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster
https://truth11.com/2014/01/10/111-articles-on-fukushima-31111-haarp-and-nuclear-attack/

The lyrics of “Flowers Will Bloom" in Japanese and English:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9qLAidzHluybmRISUVhYVNacUE/edit?usp=sharing

More about the performing musician:
https://songharvest.net/

Once I'd heard “Under the Moon and Over the Sky,” I was inspired to try making an African-themed video for this song. I love the ornamental bass rhythms and other unique musical elements that complement Daria's vocals so well. This is the second track from Daria's "Feel the Rhythm" album.

Daria is featured on Mark Stevens' "Singers And All That Jazz”:
https://paatjsaatj.wordpress.com/about/singers-and-all-that-jazz/

Daria's "Feel the Rhythm" album is on iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/ag/album/feel-the-rhythm/id210561297

Daria's home page:
http://www.dariajazz.com/

A wonderfully unique and varied solo piano arrangement of John Lennon’s “Imagine” performed live in Yokohama, Japan. It is simply beautiful. ❤️

Photography of scenes and Nobuyuki Mizuoka piano performances by A. Kurita. The four generic group portraits and the John Lennon* image were sourced at Wikimedia Commons.

*John Lennon rehearses “Give Peace A Chance” by Roy Kerwood (1969).

Credits music: “道の途中で (In the Middle of the Road)” by Nobuyuki Mizuoka

“Imagine” -- Words and music by John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy, if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one.

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one...
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one.