AN INSATIABLE HIGH

ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Recorded in Los Angeles and released in 1977, AN INSATIABLE HIGH places Masayoshi Takanaka directly alongside some of the most accomplished American session players of the era. Lee Ritenour, Harvey Mason, and Chuck Rainey are among the musicians involved, and their presence gives the album a distinctly different weight from a purely domestic fusion session. The title track, “SEXY DANCE,” “MALIBU,” “E.S.P.,” and “SUNDROPS” balance Takanaka’s bright melodic guitar with deeper funk rhythm and a smoother Los Angeles studio finish. One of the record’s major attractions is the interaction between Takanaka and Ritenour: rather than sounding like a guest appearance added for prestige, the guitar work feels integrated into the arrangements, giving the sessions a genuine cross-Pacific character. The rhythm section is equally important, with Mason and Rainey bringing the kind of pocket associated with American jazz-funk and soul recordings of the period. AN INSATIABLE HIGH therefore occupies a special place in Takanaka’s catalog: it is tropical and immediately melodic, but also grounded in a highly sophisticated international studio environment. That combination helped define the fusion vocabulary he would develop through the rest of the decade.