Frisco Tokyo
Foolish Heart (A Sidney Mills Remix)
MEET THE TEAM
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AKA TOKYO
Frisco Tokyo is a Japanese instrumental reggae band formed in Tokyo in 1998. Known only as “Frisco” in Japan, they have released six albums, numerous 7-inch vinyls (the top-selling of Japanese rocksteady groups), have songs included on various compilations, and over the years have toured extensively in Japan including performances at such reggae festivals as Sunset Live and Tohoku Reggae Festival. Frisco's composer, keyboardist, and leader, Hatayoung, is also the keyboardist for the Japanese reggae artist Asuko Ando, having recorded and toured with her group for the past ten years. In 2018, Hatayoung was the keyboardist in the backing band for Carroll Thompson, best known as the “Queen of Lovers Rock”, in Osaka as part of her Japanese tour. Hatayoung has also collaborated with numerous Japanese artists such as Rickie-G, Spinna B-ILL, Chan-Mika, Hanah Spring, Mizuki Ohira, and Kana Hanazawa.
www.friscosound.org (In Japanese)
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REMIX, KEYBOARD*, BASS
A seven time Grammy nominated British Jamaican musician and producer best known as the keyboardist and musical arranger of the roots reggae band Steel Pulse from 1988 to 2020 and among reggae's most prominent musicians. Based in NYC since 1981, Sidney worked as a musician, producer, engineer, and owner of Living Room Records (a subsidiary of SPI Music Inc.). He has recorded and toured the world with some of the top reggae artists such as Shabba Ranks, Maxie Priest, Judy Mowatt, Dennis Brown, Aswad, The Meditations, Eek-A-Mouse, Shaggy, Ziggy Marley, Augustus Pablo, Sister Carol, Beres Hammond, Tenor Saw, Cocoa Tea, Junior Reid, Frankie Paul, Mikey Dread, Mutabaruka, Big Mountain, Dollarman, Larry McDonald, Morgan Heritage, Glen Washington, Super Cat, Shinehead, Toots Hibbert, and Sly & Robbie. Sidney is also a founding member of notable pioneers of hip-hop unit Boogie Down Productions (BDP) having produced, remixed and engineered several of hip-hop's most influential musical masterpieces. In addition, he's collaborated with a diverse roster of artists from a wide range of genres such as Sting, KRS-One, Wyclef Jean, Smashing Pumpkins, Michael Stipe (R.E.M.), Ron Wood (The Rolling Stones), Kid Rock, The Neville Brothers, Queen Latifah, Garland Jeffreys, and Gwen Guthrie to name a few. Sidney also performed with Steel Pulse at the White House - at U.S. President Bill Clinton’s request - as the first reggae band to perform for a presidential inauguration. On the film side, Sidney composed and produced the music for the film Fly By Night, was the music supervisor for the film Jamaica Beat, and co-produced and performed on the Steel Pulse song 'Can't Stand It' for the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing. In recent years, Sidney has been active as a producer and session player on various projects and with developing artists such as JD Smoothe. He recently produced the new album by Worl-A-Girl and is also the producer and member of the up-and-coming Brooklyn reggae group SunDub.
Sidney has performed in Japan with Augustus Pablo, Big Mountain, Frankie Paul, and Steel Pulse.
*Casiotone CT-S1000V
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LYRICS & VOCALS
Born in Brooklyn, New York, JD Smoothe emerged as a talented young singer and, while still in his teens, was supporting notable R&B performers such as Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, Joyce Simms, and Blue Magic across New York's iconic venues like The Village Underground and Apollo Theater. His musical journey steered him in an alternate direction when performing at Reggae Sunsplash in Jamaica. This led the way for Smoothe to work with notable dancehall artists such as Buju Banton, Mad Cobra, and Lady Apache. He was later recruited by Studio One’s Coxsone Dodd to perform over classic “Downbeat” rhythms. This resulted in a cover version of The Chi-Lites ‘A Letter To Myself’ performed over the original The Heptones ‘Party Time’ rhythm. Other singles followed and thereafter, in 2001, Dodd produced and Studio One released the singer’s self-titled debut album featuring versions of classic hits. His music then ventured into spiritual and gospel realms, inspiring tracks on the 2004 release “JD Smoothe and Friends". In 2006, JD returned to his R&B roots with "Smoothe Thoughts" produced by Sidney Mills and released on his label Living Room Records. In 2015, Mr. Smoothe collaborated with Sly & Robbie and Dean Fraser on 'She Is My Little Secret'. In the past few years, JD has collaborated on numerous House Music tracks with his latest song 'Don't Want It' released with four remixes in 2023. JD has also recently reconnected with Sidney Mills to develop new projects together.
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GUITAR
Internationally acclaimed Jamaican guitarist, arranger, composer, and music educator has been playing professionally from the age of 14. With a unique eclectic style that combines Jazz, Reggae, and Classical music, Eugene has recorded and toured worldwide as lead guitarist with such artists as Burning Spear, Toots and the Maytals, Sly and Robbie, Culture, Ras Tesfa, and Fabulous Five Inc. (also known as Fab 5). He performed on all of Kid Creole and the Coconuts albums and tours, and also appeared with them on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show and in the movie The Forbidden Dance. Additionally, Eugene has recorded and performed with such acts as Max Romeo, Horace Andy, Big Youth, The Itals, Irving Burgie, The Harlem Renaissance Orchestra, America’s Singing Poet Steve DePass, Vieux Diop, Tony Cafresi and His Latin Orchestra, The Wailers, and The Skatalites. He performed on 'Dance All' and 'Yu Si Mi' on Ernie Ranglin’s 2005 release Surfin’. Another aspect of Eugene’s career includes his work on theatrical musicals. He was Musical Director for the Off-Broadway musical Rasta in 1995 as well as in 2004 for Irving Burgie’s musical review Day-O at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London. In 2001, Eugene founded his own label, Greyphone Records, that specializes in eclectic music, cross pollinating Rhythm and Blues with Ska, Jazz, Calypso and Reggae, while maintaining classical Reggae traditions. He released his solo album debut Timeless in 2002 on Greyphone, followed by Shades of Grey in 2004, Authentic in 2007, Diversity in 2010, and Straight Ahead and Beyond in 2019 (a 2 CD set comprised of one straight ahead jazz release and one with an eclectic mix of original compositions).
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MASTERING
Three time Grammy Award winning engineer and producer and previously a staff and chief engineer at the renowned Power Station studio in NYC. Rob has engineered and/or mixed albums by artists such as Nils Lofgren, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Madonna, Jeff Beck, Duran Duran, Steve Winwood, Milton Nascimento, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, Peter Wolf, Tony Bennett, Herbie Hancock, and Richard Bona to name a few. Rob has also been the engineer and worked on most of the Pat Metheny Group albums since 1983 as well as numerous Jimmy Buffett albums. A musician in his own right, Rob is the rhythm guitarist for popular jam band group Dark Star Orchestra.
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PRODUCER
An American producer and international consultant specializing in world music, international projects, and cross cultural collaborations. Emanuel, also known as Gary, started his music career at radio station WPLR 99.1 FM as an intern and upon graduation took on the position as assistant engineer for three years until entering university. While in university, Emanuel engineered and produced an album for the legendary Yale a cappella group The Whiffenpoofs. After receiving a BA degree in Music and Sound Engineering, Emanuel moved to Paris and, while studying at La Sorbonne, worked at the Virgin Megastore. Upon his return to the US, he was appointed as the International Marketing Director of Fan Emporium (a fan service, marketing and public relations company representing artists such as Ray Charles, Carly Simon, Mariah Carey and John Mellencamp). Emanuel then went on to engineer and produce 'Deep in the South' on Sire Records by legendary blues musician Guitar Gabriel (aka Nyles Jones). He also brought the foremost Israeli rock group Izabo to the US and produced their self-titled album at the Power Station NE. In 1998, he took on the position as International Director of Shanachie Records (where he signed South African legend Hugh Masekela) and worked with some of the top world music artists. During that time, he also produced the vinyl version of “Afrobeat... No Go Die!!!” on Umoja Records. In 2001, he took on the positions as International Director of Bill Laswell’s label Innerhythmic and International Consultant for the launch of Wyclef Jean’s Haitian roots label Sak Passé and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s NYC-based label KAB. At that time, Emanuel also worked as a consultant for Putumayo World Music suggesting songs for their popular world music compilations. In 2004, Emanuel moved to Japan and started label mondial as a vehicle for all his activities. In 2005, label mondial released the CD “Naturel” by Senegalese artist Fania in cooperation with Sega Sammy and arranged her performances at the Blue Note Tokyo. Emanuel introduced African music to Japanese pop star Misia and set up a collaboration with Fania on Misia's song 'Color of Life'. He also arranged a collaboration for Fania with the Ainu artist Oki on the song 'Utari'. In 2006, Emanuel produced events at Blue Note Tokyo for their Roots Music Festival inviting Mory Kante from Guinea and Mighty Sparrow from Trinidad, neither of whom had performed in Japan for over 20 years. As a promotional CD for DeBeers and the Diamond Trade Association in Japan, Emanuel was asked by producer Nick Wood of Syn Entertainment in Tokyo to introduce and produce African musicians for a version of 'Diamonds Are Forever'. Emanuel also cleared music rights for NHK TV documentaries. In 2011, Emanuel organized and produced the two week long AfroTokyo festival to promote cross-cultural exchange and development between Africa and Japan through music, dance, art, film, fashion, and cuisine. Starting in 2014, he produced world music versions of the traditional Japanese song 'Yosakoi Naruko Odori' by artists from French Guiana, Suriname, Cameroon, Guinea, and Japan. Emanuel worked with PARCO and the Japan Foundation as a consultant for the launch and seven year duration of Dance Dance Asia, the launch of Shibuya StreetDance Week, and continued as a consultant for the dance music group Tokyo Gegegay.
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DEVELOPER OF MUSIC TAPESTRY
Developer of the influential rhythm “rock” preset on the MT-40 keyboard - known as the Sleng Teng riddim - that revolutionized reggae. Originally into British rock, Okuda later became fascinated with reggae and saw Bob Marley and the Wailers several times during his 1979 tour of Japan and eventually did her college thesis on reggae. After Okuda obtained her degree in Musicology at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, she was hired as an engineer by CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD., a company that had just entered the electronic musical instrument industry. She first became involved in the development of the MT-40 (released in 1981) by planning specifications and creating rhythm patterns. The first rhythm pattern she created was the “rock” preset with its distinct prominent bassline and unique groove. Four years later in Jamaica, Noel Davey and Wayne Smith used the MT-40 “rock” preset and drum “fill” pattern, with the aid of producer King Jammy and Smith as the lyricist and vocalist, to create the Wayne Smith song “Under Mi Sleng Teng”. It was a huge hit. Today, the Sleng Teng riddim has been used on close to 500 recordings, making it among the most used Jamaican riddims. Due to its original sound, unique repeated phrase and demonstrating how an electronic keyboard could create a riddim without the cost of studio musicians, Sleng Teng launched the digital era of dancehall and reggae as well as playing a pivotal role in the development of electronic music. As the “Godmother of Sleng Teng”, Okuda’s contribution to the world of reggae and her influence on electronic music can not be overstated. Recently, Okuda developed Music Tapestry, a new technology that applies Casio’s original musical analysis to musical performances; it translates performances into imagery that evolves as you play, culminating in a still image that represents the whole performance. Music Tapestry was nominated as a finalist in the software prototypes and non-commercial category of the MIDI Innovation Awards 2023.
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VIDEO ASSEMBLY & CREDITS
Hal Masonberg is a fiction and documentary filmmaker, acting teacher, as well as live music photographer. Based in Los Angeles for 30 years, Hal worked in various positions in film and television including screenwriting, film directing, casting, teaching acting, and giving audition workshops. Hal worked on such major studio films as The Mask and What's Eating Gilbert Grape as well as many other films and television series. His first feature film as writer/director was The Plague, produced by Clive Barker (Hellraiser, Candyman) and shot by cinematographer Bill Butler (Jaws, Grease, The Conversation). Hal was one of the house photographers for LeRoy Downs’ renowned Just Jazz live concert series in Hollywood, as well as the Skull & Roses Festival in Ventura, California. Hal’s second feature film, Jazz Nights: A Confidential Journey was the winner of the Audience Award at the 2017 Copenhagen Jazz Film Festival and has been received by critics as one of the best jazz documentary films ever. Hal is currently based in Barcelona, Spain, where he is writing two new screenplays and a television series pilot, developing his company Off Leash Films, and teaching acting at the Frank Stein Studio. Hal is also the house photographer for Barcelona’s oldest jazz club, Jamboree, as well as for the Voll-Damm Festival de Jazz de Barcelona and the Mas i Mas Festival.
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WEBSITE DESIGN
Brooklyn-based drummer, percussionist and song writer Ben Teters was born into a family of musicians and began honing his skills as a drummer at the age of seven, forming his first band at 15. Ben is a 2012 graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston where he studied with Kenwood Dennard, Mike Mangini and Mark Walker. Since moving to New York City, he has been active on the NYC scene and maintained a busy touring schedule. His versatility, rock solid groove, and free flowing incorporation of Afro-Latin rhythms into contemporary music has led Ben to a host of musical collaborations, regularly writing, performing, recording and touring with some of the finest artists from New York and beyond. These include Satsang, Sidney Mills (Steel Pulse), electric blues artist Seth Walker, America’s Got Talent finalist Cas Haley, legendary bass player Bakithi Kumalo (Paul Simon), Grammy Award winner Chris Berry, award winning dance troupe Dorrance Dance, Afrobeat jazz group The Brighton Beat, and many others.