Checked it out, it's pretty good but also reminds me of regular jazz, just with a bit more virtuoso mixed in as opposed to free play, so it's less laidback. Interesting concept
I've been a listener of all types of jazz for about 15 years. In my experience, Japanese jazz is akin to having one of those YouTube 'chillhop lofi Jazz' live streams up. It isn't super technical and gets a bit repetitive to me, but it's nice to have on every now and then while I'm trying to multitask.
There's a lot of great Japanese jazz from the 70s and early 80s. Check out Kazumi Watanabe, from his early guitar-oriented days to the more full instrumentation of his compositions in the 80s and 90s. A favorite of mine is To-Chi-Ka, which also features Marcus Miller on bass. There are also a lot of great albums with female vocalists such as this one by Noriko Miyamoto and Isao Suzuki.
Is it okay to share Spotify playlists? If so, I have a good sized (nearly 16 hours) Japanese jazz/bebop list I put together, track by track, awhile back. I haven't updated it in a bit cause depression is real, so there's probably lots more to add by now. Anyway, I didn't want to just pop off a link to a subscription service without asking, first...
Yay! Maybe a little bit more upbeat stuff than pure relaxation, but a good jumping off point, I hope, for everyone making more awesome playlists to share! Japanese Jazz & Dandy Bebop