Oliver Nelson, Nobuo Hara and His Sharps & Flats - Oliver Nelson In Tokyo (2013)

Oliver Nelson makes a great appearance here with the Sharps & Flats group of Nobuo Hara – an excellent Japanese ensemble who are clearly inspired by Nelson's soulful arrangements of the 60s! Oliver's the reed soloist on the album, not the leader – and it's great to hear him getting a bit of his own sort of treatment while stretching out as an individual voice – free to remind us that he's also a hell of a soloist when he wants to be, with reed talents that work perfectly with the larger sense of tone from the bigger group!