I was listening to Dogatana (25 November 1981) the other day and decided to post it here because it seems Watanabe’s work is now all but forgotten outside of Japan.
While Friday Night in San Francisco (also released in 1981) continues to sell like a “classic” album, Dogatana has drifted into relative obscurity here in the Anglosphere. Like so many other artists further marginalized by the concentration of distribution power (that blasted “economy of scale” strikes again) in the music “business”, Watanabe’s albums have disappeared in the ever-shrinking shelves of the record stores where I live. It’s too bad really, as he is such a clever player with an entertaining style – like those of ”Friday” superstars: John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola, and Paco DeLucia.
“Kazumi Watanabe has for the past 20 years been one of the top guitarists in fusion, a rock-oriented player whose furious power does not mask a creative imagination. Watanabe studied guitar at Tokyo’s Yamaha Music School and he was a recording artist while still a teenager. In 1979, he formed the group Kylyn and, in 1983, he put together the Mobo band. Several of his recordings have been made available by Gramavision and they show that he ranks up with Al DiMeola (when he is electrified) and Scott Henderson among the pacesetters in the idiom.” –Scott Yanow
Track List:
1) Nuevo Espresso – 5:53
2) Loosey Goosey – 6:56
3) Ti Fa Let – 3:09
4) Island – 5:05
5) Diana – 3:19
6) Waterfall Autumn – 6:50
7) Please Don’t Bundle Me – 7:14
8) Haru No Tsurara – 3:41
I am the creator and site administrator at The Basement Rug. I have been collecting LP's and CD's for more than 30 years. I 
