DRINKIN' HOPPYS "I Ain't Drunk, I'm Just Drinkin'" CD

"I'm not drunk, I'm just drinking."
Titles like this would never work if you were driving a car, but they're okay if you're jumping!
This is the third album by Japanese Jump Band, who is at the peak of their career, and it highlights the slick performance that only a mid-career band can have!
--Azuma Mitsuyoshi

The Tokyo-based jump blues band Drinkin' Hoppies has released a new album recorded, mixed, produced and featuring guest appearances by the great pioneer of the jump and jive scene, Mitsuyoshi Azuma!!

■The third album by Drinkin' Hoppies, a rare authentic jump blues band in Japan, with a total of 12 members, eight horns and four rhythms. They sing the spirit of the time in Japanese, in order to revive the black pop music of the 1930s and 1940s in the present day. Therefore, the lyrics are full of humor, if you look at it positively, and silly if you look at it negatively, but the performance is based on swing and boogie-woogie, and you can feel a great respect for the black music of the time (I think). The album is full of exhilarating jump numbers throughout, but it is also an ambitious work that takes on calypso (M10) and Cuban son (M4).
■Following on from the previous album, Mitsuyoshi Azuma (Mitsuyoshi Azuma & The Swingin' Boppers) is in charge of recording. In this album, Mr. Azuma is not only in charge of recording, but also of producing. In addition, he participates in three songs as a guest musician, singing, playing guitar, and playing tiple (M2, 6, 11).
■About three takes were recorded halfway using old-fashioned digital tape (mainly for economic reasons).
■Bonus track M11 features guest appearance by Swingin' Boppers bassist Yutaka Maki.

■Track list