Name: A Letter From Slowboat
Brand: Ryo Fukui

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

WRJ008LTD

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Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

180 Gram Vinyl housed in Heavyweight Sleeve with Obi. Half Speed Mastering. 

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2020-09-18

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

4251804120838

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Total Cap

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

Artist

Ryo Fukui

Genre GB

Jazz

Label GB

We Release Jazz

Ryo Fukui was a Japanese jazz pianist based in Sapporo. He began teaching himself the piano in 1970 and released his first album, Scenery, six years later. Over the years, he honed his skills through live performances at various jazz clubs. His third album, My Favorite Tune, recorded in 1994 and released in 1995, is now considered rare. In New York followed four years later as a trio with Leroy Williams on drums and Lisle Arthur Atkinson on bass. A Letter from Slowboat is a live album from his time at the "Slowboat" jazz club.

Back In Stock

Official reissue of Ryo Fukui’s final album, the very personal contemporary jazz offering, A Letter from Slowboat, sourced from the original masters and available on

Known for his miraculous albums Scenery (1976) and Mellow Dream (1977), legendary Hokkaido pianist Ryo Fukui, with the help of his wife Yasuko, opened his very own jazz club in Sapporo in 1995, Slowboat. This is where Ryo Fukui spent the latter half of his career, playing again and again, welcoming peers for unforgettable sessions, and perfecting the craft he lived for: jazz.

A Letter from Slowboat is a poetic, soulful, and honest love letter to Hokkaido, to Fukui’s jazz club, and to endless hours of practicing artistry in a place called home. Backed by longtime collaborators Takumi Awaya on bass, and Ittetsu Takemura on drums, Ryo Fukui flows through classics and originals with natural class, fluidity and absolute precision, expressing a smooth balance between skills and heart. Slowboat, full of breathtaking solos and exquisite moments of clarity, is another crucial piece in the career of one of the most fascinating jazzmen to ever grace the piano. It was released in 2016, sadly the year Ryo Fukui passed away, leaving behind a legacy of works that is sure to captivate jazz lovers for generations to come, and Slowboat, where the magic still happens to this day.

A Letter From Slowboat

Music GB

Buy Ryo Fukui - A Letter From Slowboat (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.