Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today let's go into another Evening Groove / Three Tune Tuesday post. 

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As always, thanks to @ablaze for making this series. Lots of people participate in it! Follow the tags to find a ton of good music recommendation. 

Today I have another mix of different genres. Trying to keep switching things up to stay interesting. 

Today we are going to look at Eiji Kitamura, another jazz legend in Japan. Kitamura was a phenomenal clarinetist. A jazz clarinetist may call to mind Benny Goodman. Well, for jazz people it might anyway. At any rate, Kitamura took inspiration from Goodman and other jazz clarinetist like Artie Shaw. Given those influences, his style is more swing jazz than anything. There is nothing revolutionary in his work, but it doesn't have to be. It's just good listening, whether you are using it as background music or focusing on it as you sit to relax. 

He had a long career and produced a lot of great music, so this will be hard to pick just three tracks....

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**All of Me**

Let's start with this one. It's a classic tune, written in 1931 by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons, that let's you know what you're getting into with Kitamura. This brings to mind the classic swing jazz of the 1930s. This is the 10th track on his 1986 album *Birth of the Swing*. I could listen to this on repeat all day. 

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**We'll Meet Again**

Speaking of songs you may have heard before, here he is with *We'll Meet Again*, the 1939 song composed by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles that became one of the most famous songs of the WWII era and also famously shows up at the end of *Dr. Strangelove* as humanity is being destroyed. 

It's a lovely tune and Kitamura plays it so nicely. 

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**Petite Fleur**

From his 1978 album *Swing Sessions* comes this great track, written by Sidney Bechet in 1952.

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**No Count**

For our bonus track, we are going to go with an entire album! This is his 1983 album *No Count* which he recorded with an all-American ensemble. It features some great classics from Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

This is such a great album! Do yourself a favor and let it play from beginning to end. Everyone shines but no one more than Kitamura and his magical clarinet. 

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Geez, I could keep going. Pretty much everything he played is worth listening to. If you liked any of the above, just type his name into YouTube and you will get tons more to listen to. 

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<td><img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/9ed59bcbc3d0c81b382b0df883f91773/tumblr_inline_ni2uuza1ku1qz4uph.jpg" alt="Hi there!"></td>
<td><a href="https://hive.blog/about/@dbooster/about-david-laspina-v1-2">David LaSpina</a> is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.</td>
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