Over the course of his near 50-year career, jazz guitarist Ryo Kawasaki released some of the most imaginative, inventive and in some cases unusual music ever to emerge from Japan. Amongst the most impressive of these was 1983 album, Lucky Lady, a breathlessly brilliant and musically eclectic set that saw Kawasaki push the boundaries of both jazz and the rapidly evolving sound of electronic music.

The album sleeve artwork is the original artwork and the images are photos of Ryo’s daughter and the album was something he created as a dedication to her.

By the standards of the time, Lucky Lady was exceptionally cutting edge. Kawasaki had previously used synthesisers in his work and had a reputation for being technically savvy enough to modify any instruments he could get his hands on. When Roland sent him prototypes of their GR-500 and GS-500 guitar synthesizers, the Japanese firm including schematic drawings and blueprints to make modification easier.

Kawasaki took up the challenge, creating his own guitar synthesizer that featured different elements from both models. This one-of-a-kind unit, supplemented by the then brand-new TR-808 drum machine, TB-303 bass synthesizer and CS-600Q analogue sequencer, provided Kawasaki with all the tools he needed to create the backing tracks that sit beneath his virtuoso guitar solos on Lucky Lady.

Before he passed away in April 2020, Kawasaki granted permission to NuNorthern Soul to rummage through he back catalogue and reissue selected tracks and albums. Phil Cooper’s imprint has already released two essential EPs of selected career highlights and will next offer-up a brand-new pressing of Lucky Lady. The re-mastered album will come accompanied by detailed liner notes from both Kawasaki, penned just months before he passed away, and experienced music journalist Marc Rowlands.

Lucky Lady remains a startling and hugely entertaining piece of work that defies easy categorisation. While the focus point throughout remains Kawasaki’s dazzling, improvised guitar solos, it’s the music that sits beneath them that sounds so far-sighted. Almost entirely electronic, it takes cues from the hip-hop and dance scenes Kawasaki was surrounded by in New York, as well as the cold futurism of Kraftwerk, the other-worldly synth-pop of Japanese contemporaries Yellow Magic Orchestra, and – more surprisingly – the very specific shuffle of Jamaican dub reggae (the sunny synth-jazz of ‘Sophisticated Lady’).

Yet the album’s genius lies not in Kawasaki’s inspirations, but rather how he turned these into tracks that still sound like they were beamed down from another dimension. His bass-lines, crafted on a TB-303, frequently sound like the blueprint for those later found in early Chicago house (for proof, check the mesmerising brilliance of ‘Secret of the Wing’ and ‘Long Time Before You Were Born’), while the TR-808 beats are every bit as punchy and weighty as those found on celebrated NYC electro records.

Throw-in all manner of alien-sounding guitar synthesizer melodies and some special effects created using a Commodore 64 computer, and you have a singular set of sublime compositions that still stand out from the crowd 38 years after they were recorded.