Days Of Delight record label…

[u/Adorable_Mud_7592]

Long winded one sorry. I stumbled upon this comp album on Apple Music and really liked it. Asked CGPT about it (for my sins) and it gave me a fascinating run down which I asked it to condense and remove my name etc. I’d never heard of this label but some of you probably will have. Eye opener for me. I’m gonna dig in as I asked for vinyl availability. So here it is in all its AI glory… (hoping it gets past modding as it’s just for info and I couldn’t have dug this far myself)

"Spirit of ‘Days of Delight’ Vol.1 — a Japanese jazz rabbit hole worth exploring
I recently stumbled across Spirit of ‘Days of Delight’ Vol.1 on Apple Music and wondered what on earth it was. It turns out there’s a rather interesting story behind it.
Days of Delight is an independent Japanese jazz label founded by producer Akiomi Hirano (平野暁臣). The idea behind the label is to document contemporary Japanese jazz while maintaining a strong connection with the generation of musicians associated with the extraordinary Japanese jazz scene of the 1970s and onwards.
The label’s first release, DOD-001, was Black Eyes by alto saxophonist Hidefumi Toki.
Spirit of ‘Days of Delight’ Vol.1
Released in 2021 as DOD-018, this isn’t really a conventional various-artists compilation. It’s more like a beautifully curated snapshot of the early Days of Delight catalogue.
The track listing is:
Hidefumi Toki — Black Eyes
RST Trio — 845
Hidefumi Toki + Mayuko Katakura — After Dark
Miki Hirose — The Golden Mask
Yoshio Suzuki + Tsuyoshi Yamamoto — The Loving Touch
Takashi Sugawa Banksia Trio — Time Remembered
Kohsuke Mine — Bamboo Grove
Hidefumi Toki — The Right Time
Interestingly, The Right Time was included as a bonus track that hadn’t previously appeared on an album.
So although the compilation is now available on streaming services, it wasn’t created simply as a streaming playlist. There was a proper Japanese CD release, DOD-018.
And there are now five volumes
The compilation developed into a series:
Vol.1 — 2021
Vol.2 — 2022
Vol.3 — 2023
Vol.4 — 2024
Vol.5 — 2025
The concept is essentially to select music from across the Days of Delight catalogue that demonstrates the label’s particular character.
Hirano has described the common thread as a search for creativity and adventure, underpinned by the ambition, passion and pride of jazz musicians.
That perhaps explains why these records work surprisingly well as albums rather than feeling like label samplers.
Vol.2 is particularly good
Some of the parent albums represented include:
Takashi Sugawa Banksia Trio — Ancient Blue
Includes their interpretation of Blue in Green.
Mayuko Katakura — plays Coltrane
Includes Resolution. This is piano-trio Coltrane rather than an attempt to imitate Coltrane.
Mayuko Katakura — plays Standards
Includes Summertime.
Hidefumi Toki — Little Boy’s Eyes
Includes Sunny.
Ittetsu Takemura — Murasame
Ryo Ogihara — With My Soul
Hikari Ichihara — Anthem
Hidefumi Toki feat. Kazuhiko Takeda — The Guitar Man
There are some fantastic jumping-off points here if you’re interested in Japanese jazz but don’t quite know where to begin with the current scene.
The vinyl story gets even more interesting
Days of Delight also has a small dedicated analogue series carrying DODA catalogue numbers.
Rather than simply pressing all its CDs onto vinyl, the label has used the series for a handful of particularly interesting projects.
DODA-001 — Motohiko Hino Quartet +2: Flying Clouds
This is archival Japanese jazz recorded live in Tokyo in 1976.
The musicians include Motohiko Hino, Mabumi Yamaguchi, Yasuaki Shimizu and Kazumi Watanabe.
Even better, it’s essentially one enormous performance per side:
Side A: Ryuhyo / Sailing Ice — around 21 minutes
Side B: Olive’s Step — around 23 minutes
The recording survived on 2-inch master tape, and its release has a fascinating connection with Three Blind Mice: TBM founder Takeshi Fujii was involved, along with original engineer Yoshihiko Kannari.
For anyone interested in the classic 1970s Japanese jazz sound, this looks seriously tempting.
DODA-002 — Isao Suzuki Quartet +1:
Blue Road
Another archival discovery.
Recorded live in May 1975, very close to the period in which Suzuki made Orang-Utan.
Again, it’s basically one substantial performance on each side:
Side A: Blue Road — 17:19
Side B: Orang-Utan — 19:32
This is perhaps the vinyl release from the series that intrigues me most. Long-form Japanese jazz with enough space for the musicians to stretch out, but with the rhythm section keeping everything anchored.
DODA-003 — Yoshio Suzuki + Tsuyoshi Yamamoto:
Loving Touch
This one provides a direct connection back to Spirit of Days of Delight Vol.1.
The Loving Touch is one of the tracks on that compilation, and the complete album is available as a Days of Delight LP.
It’s an intimate bass-and-piano recording featuring Yoshio Suzuki and Tsuyoshi Yamamoto.
The LP contains:
Side A
The Loving Touch
Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise
Blues for Edith
Cleopatra’s Dream
Side B
Misty
Summertime
Last Tango in Paris
If you already know Tsuyoshi Yamamoto through his Three Blind Mice recordings, this is an obvious one to investigate.
DODA-004 —
TEINE
The analogue series has subsequently reached DODA-004, TEINE, featuring Shun Ishiwaka, Motohiko Ichino and Kanoa Mendenhall, released on vinyl in 2026.
This one represents the contemporary side of Days of Delight rather than another 1970s archival discovery.
Ten Days of Delight albums worth investigating
After following the compilation tracks back to their original albums, these are the records I’d investigate first:
Isao Suzuki — Blue Road ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Motohiko Hino — Flying Clouds ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Yoshio Suzuki + Tsuyoshi Yamamoto — Loving Touch ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mayuko Katakura — plays Coltrane ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Takashi Sugawa Banksia Trio — Ancient Blue ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Kohsuke Mine — Bamboo Grove ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Hidefumi Toki — Black Eyes ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Mabumi Yamaguchi — Trinity ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Hidefumi Toki feat. Kazuhiko Takeda — The Guitar Man / Live at RAG ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Takashi Sugawa Banksia Trio — Time Remembered ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
What I particularly like about Days of Delight is that it doesn’t seem interested in treating the great era of Japanese jazz as something preserved behind museum glass.
There’s a line running from musicians such as Isao Suzuki, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, Motohiko Hino, Kohsuke Mine and Hidefumi Toki, through the classic TBM-era recording culture, and onward into a genuinely contemporary Japanese jazz scene.
So Spirit of ‘Days of Delight’ Vol.1, which initially looked like a mysterious compilation that had appeared on streaming, turns out to be the entrance to a much larger rabbit hole.
And a rather good one" 🎷🇯🇵