Beyond Nostalgia

Another SteepleChase debut album here by Japanese-born “so cute, so bad” B-3 organist Akiko Tsuruga who hails from Osaka, Japan’s second largest city brimming with vitality and keen sense of good life. With her working group including husband trumpeter Joe Magnarelli Akiko leaps out with electrifying energy and at the same time displays her knack for elegant phrasing. “Tsuruga wraps her own personality around our expectations, bringing out signature ideals of her instrument” (Dan Bilawsky – AAJ)