(Contemporary Jazz/World Fusion/ Jazz-Pop) Jun Miyake - Stolen From Strangers - 2008, MP3, 176 kbps

Jun Miyake is afraid of nothing! Avant-garde, jazz, Gregorian chant, trip hop, chanson, tango, pop hit, Arabic, Latin American and Asian musical vocabulary. Jun Miyake mixes all of this so creatively that it is overwhelming. Executed by tuba, cello, oud, mandolin, a Bulgarian choir and a multitude of electronic and acoustic percussion from which Miyake extracts the most curious of sounds, there is only one conclusion to come to: anyone who likes the melting of contrasts, who likes Tom Waits, David Sylvian or Chet Baker, should absolutely listen to Stolen from Strangers . Jun Miyake and his acolyte Arto Lindsay take a good portion of creative freedom. They unite what seems impossible to unite; they mix oil and water as if there had never been any problem doing so. Daring without ever running the danger of shaking or stumbling, the duo goes forth unhindered by the shackles of musical genre or stereotype

Some albums creep up on you, with seductive tunes and enigmatic lyrics, while others demand to be admitted into your life with clattering rhythms and grandiose gestures, like a noisy, long-lost relative. Stolen From Strangers, by Japanese arranger Jun Miyake, is your new best friend - one who drops by for tea and ends up cooking a meal. And washing up. It sounds right in any context: loud, soft, in the kitchen, while travelling, on the radio. If I had a vinyl version, it would never leave my turntable. Each track is full of delight, from the bossa-flavoured Alviverde to the schmaltzy Niji Wa Tohku. En route we get the trippy tHe heRe aNd afTer, Le Voyageur Solitaire (nu-chanson meets Bulgarian voices) and the heart-tugging 'est-ce que tu peux me voir. Whether Miyake is the new Gil Evans or merely the new Bacharach, he's made a fantastic album.
John L Walters, The Guardian,

Jun Miyake — flh, keyb, samples
Arto Lindsay — vocal, git
Vinicius Cantuaria — git, perc
Lisa Papineau — voc
Dhafer Youssef — oud
Arthur H — voc
Sanseverino — voc
Peter Scherer — p
Hitoshi Watanabe - b
Masahiro Itami — git
Didier Havet — tuba
Hideo Yamaki — dr
and the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra + The Cosmic Voices of Bulgaria