Japanese bassist Teruo Nakamura recorded this superb heavy fusion Jazz album, his debut in New York in the summer of 1973. He is joined by some of thecream of upcoming musicians including Alphonse Mouzon and Lenny White on drums, Hubert Eaves and George Cables on keyboards, Steve Grossman on sax and Charles Sullivan on trumpet. Stylistically ‘Unicorn’ could easily have been recorded for the NY Strata East label but was actually commissioned by the acclaimed Japanese label Three Blind Mice. The album is best known for the Groovy jazz dancer ‘Umma Be Me’ which like the ethereal ‘Understanding’ features Sandi Hewitt on vocals, both written by Eaves. The standouts for me though are the spiritual jazz workouts ‘New Moon’ and ‘Derrick’s Dance’ both featuring pianist John Miller who wrote the latter, and Sullivan’s blistering Trumpet. Excellent album remastered by Bernie Grundman to a high standard.
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