Monday Michiru Mariano (more commonly known as Monday Michiru) is a Japanese-American actress, singer, and songwriter whose music encompasses and fuses a wide variety of genres including jazz, dance, pop, and soul. She is arguably best known for being a pioneer of the acid jazz movement in Japan in the early 1990's yet she has created her own unique style of music that transcends traditional definitions of the aforementioned genres.
With her sophomore effort, Monday Michiru proved her debut was no fluke. Featuring 12 tracks that lean firmly on the jazz side of the acid jazz fence and a host of New York and Tokyo's finest, Michiru took the vocal arrangements firmly into her own hands and allowed Shinichi Osawa and Jeff Brown to handle the musical charts, and adds the talents of everyone from Cleveland Watkiss, Javon Jackson, and DJ Krush to Hajime Yoshizawa to the mix.
Typical of her early records, Michiru moves all over the map, from the driven soul-jazz of "Look Into the Past" to the Brazilian-tinged "Rainy Daze," and "La Flora" (for Michiru's main influence, Flora Purim), to the hip-hopped-up acid jazz shimmy of "Givin' It" to the funky R&B groove of "Sunshine After the Rain."
As is true of all Michiru's recordings, the production, song selection (all written by her) and charts are first rate. This is a professional recording job, but so pro it keeps all the emotion inside the mix. The feel is easy, breezy, and in the pocket. And all one can say at the end of the day is that Michiru is no ordinary jazz singer, no ordinary soul singer, no ordinary singer. She's a bona fide diva.
01. Look Into The Past
02. Rainy Daze
03. Sunshine After The Rain
04. Hold On
05. Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
06. Angel's Falling
07. Givin'it
08. In Utopia
09. Scat Attack
10. Fading Beauty
11. Just Another Day
12. La Flora
Monday Michiru's Website
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