Mute Beat was an influential dub

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

band from Japan. They are often considered a precursor to acid jazz,

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and

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having performed similar-sounding music before those genres emerged. The band was formed by Kazufumi Kodama, who grew up enjoying

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ofte ...

music and later discovered reggae in the late 70s. In 1981 he formed Mute Beat with the aim to make dub music that would go boldly into unexplored music territories, including the use of marching band techniques. The original keyboardist

Gota Yashiki is a Japanese musician, both an independent acid jazz artist and drum/bass player, as a member of the band Simply Red. Biography He was born in Kyoto, Japan, on 26 February 1962, where at a young age he learned how to play traditional Japan ...

left the band in the mid 80s and moved overseas to produce music for Soul II Soul and

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amongst others. Mute Beat's first release was a self-titled cassette on New York's Roir label. They collaborated with many musicians including

Jagatara Jagatara was a Japanese band centered on Edo Akemi. They are renowned for their unique sound, which has been described as a mixture of rock, especially punk, funk and reggae. The band formed in March, 1979, and released their first album 'Nanban ...

Gladstone Anderson Gladstone Anderson (18 June 1934 – 3 December 2015), also known by his nickname "Gladdy", was a Jamaican pianist, keyboard player, and singer, who played a major part in the island's musical history, playing a key role in defining the ska sou ...

Roland Alphonso Roland Alphonso OD or Rolando Alphonso "The Chief Musician" (12 January 1931 – 20 November 1998)Thompson, p. 262 was a Jamaican tenor saxophonist, and one of the founding members of the Skatalites. Biography Born in Havana, Cuba, Alphonso c ...

, King Tubby, and Lee Scratch Perry.

Members

* Kazufumi "Echo" Kodama - trumpet * Akihito Masui - trombone * Hiroyuki Asamoto - keyboards *

- keyboards (previously) * Takayoshi Matsunaga - bass * Hideyuki Imai - drums * Izumi "Dub Master X" Miyazaki - dub mix

Discography

Albums

* ''

Japanese Dub Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

'' (Cass) (1986) * ''In Dub'' (Cass) (1986) * ''Still Echo (LP)'' (1986) (Wackies) * ''

Lovers Rock Lovers' rock is a style of reggae music noted for its romantic sound and content. While love songs had been an important part of reggae since the late 1960s, the style was given a greater focus and a name in London in the mid-1970s.Larkin, Col ...

'' (Cass) (1987) * ''

Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

'' (CD) (1989) * ''In Dub'' (CD) (1996) * '' No. 0 Virgin Dub'' (LP) (1996)

Singles

* (1984) Mute Beat * (1988) Sunny Side Walk

References

Japanese reggae musical groups Dub musical groups {{Japan-band-stub