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J!-ENT | NOVEMBER 041

...sharing

TOSHI. THE SMOOTHEST SOUL R&B SINGER FROM JAPAN IS BACK WITH HIS THIRD U.S. ALBUM TITLED “TIME TO SHARE”. J!-ENT TALKS TO TOSHI ABOUT HIS LATEST PROJECT, OVERCOMING CHALLENGES AND WHAT HE HOPES TO ACCOMPLISH WITH HIS MUSIC INTERNATIONALLY. BY DENNIS A. AMITH

TOSHI. Known for having that sexy, funky soul style from Japan and showing us that music is univer-sal. The man is back to make you bump, to make you groove and to bring us to another level for which he has prepared for us. Toshi (Toshinobu Kubota) has released his third U.S. album titled “Time to Share” on the Sony Epic Records label and also featured on Tofu Records “Neo Soul” compilation. From listening to his latest album, Toshi remains true to his passion for soul music but has fun with experimenting with different grooves that fans of his music will appreciate. People are taking notice of Toshi’s music and even several well-known entertainers have shown their sup-port for him. “Music is about quality no matter who’s pipes it comes from,” Denzel Washington said. “Toshi is a smooth guy. God blessed him with a great voice.” Even “Sex and the City” starlet, Kim Cattral loves Toshi’s music. “He’s amazing! I mean that kind of singing just doesn’t come from nowhere – it’s something you’re born with,” Kim said. “And he’s Japanese, which adds an International flair...it’s just a reminder that Soul music has many faces.” Of course, along with the praises come many chal-lenges. Although music is colorless, the fact is that success for any Asian music artist is difficult because of the lack of radio airplay and the walls that exist in the industry. Fortunately, for Toshi there are many fans who are supportive of his music in the United States. “The biggest struggle is getting in the door,” actress

Vivica Fox said. “Toshi’s voice and presence pushed him through and it will push him to the top... And it’s nice to have balance on the musical landscape. Even ?uestlove of the Roots who has worked with Toshi is very supportive of Toshi living his dream and making it a reality. “Soul music is universal...Toshi is a groundbreaker just for rewriting the book on who’s allowed to play in this game.” In Japan, Toshi continues to have a very successful career with millions of records sold worldwide. Toshi is seen as one of the major contributors for making soul/R&B music popular in Japan. Respected for his style, he has inspired many art-ists who want to follow his lead. And the respect for what Toshi has accomplished in the Japanese music industry prompted the creation of a special album titled “SOUL TREE ~ a musical tribute to toshinobu kubota” featuring several of today’s contemporary Japanese soul/R&B and JPOP artists Toshi always wanted to be a soul singer and that passion for soul music started when he was a teenager. As a teenager, he came across an offer in a soda bottle at his father’s store which featured a promo-tional for an exchange for dozens of bottle tops, he would receive a free album. “I don’t know if my father ever found out,” said Toshi with a smile. “But there were a lot of opened soda cans with no tops in that store!” In return for those bottle tops, Toshi received a vinyl album from the U.S. with an English title that he couldn’t read. “There were five Black men with afros standing there. All I could read was Stylistics,” Toshi said. “It

Photograp

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who was looking for a vocalist to sing in his upcoming album. He was signed but his agency and management really didn’t know how to promote the soul singer. Frankly, because in Japan, media had classifications for enka, rock and idol pop music but there was no clas-sifications at that time for Toshi’s style of music. Fortunately, his debut album “Shake it Paradise” (1986) was a popular album that sold over a million copies and many more albums released afterwards would reach a million dollars in sales. For Toshi, his passion for soul music and to evolve as a vocalist, a writer, a producer brought him to New York City. The city where he would immerse himself in the soul music scene and to work with the very people he has respected. The mid-90’s (95-96), Toshi made it happen. Not just in Japan but also in the United States. His multi-million selling Japanese CD single “La.La.La. Love Song” (which featured super model Naomi Campbell) peaked at #1 on the Oricon charts and his name and from that point his name was known throughout Asia and many Japanese music fans throughout the world.

took me three years after that to finally get a record player so I could hear it.” By then, Toshi had been introduced to Stevie Wonder’s music and the album that changed his life was “Songs in the Key of Life”, the first album he ever bought. “It changed everything for me. His voice, his songs, everything was different from anything I have ever heard before.” Soul music became his biggest passion and he formed his first band in Junior High which didn’t last long because not many Japanese knew how to perform soul music. After high school, Toshi went to Tokyo to study economics but spent more time performing at various clubs than hitting the books. “One night there’d be one person in the audience,” Toshi said. “The next night, maybe three people. The next week maybe ten people, that would be a good night.” His passion and perseverance paid off because on one of those nights, a major record label representative was watching and introduced Toshi to a jazz musician

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“ I use the word ‘share’ in almost every love song on this album,

which is why I titled my album ‘Time to Share’. I want people to share with me, feel the emo-

tions I felt when I recorded the music.”

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But as that was a great achieve-ment in Japan, his dream came true with a release of an album in the United States. with “Sunshine Moonlight” in 1995. Most impor-tantly that this was not just a one album stint because several years later, he would released his second album in the U.S. titled “Nothing But Your Love” in 2000. He has worked with the crème de la crème of the soul music world from Raphael Saddiq to The Roots’ Ahmir Thompson and Angie Stone. “I think he proves to us that soul is more than just a look, Toshi brings his own flavor, but adds to the elements of what a ‘soul singer’ is” Raphael Saddiq said. He in-spires me by the depth he brings to soul music.” With over ten million records sold worldwide, through hard work and perseverance, he has earned the respect of soul music’s most respect-ed artists. Toshi’s third project “Time to Share” features collaborations with underground Hip Hop artist and renowned poet Mos Def, Raphael Saddiq, Angie Stone and many more. Commenting on the title of his upcoming album, Toshi said, “You may not notice when you first listen. But I use the word ‘share’ in almost every love song on this album, which is why I titled my album ‘Time to Share’. I want people to share with me, feel the emotions I felt when I recorded the music.” Most recently, Toshi took part in 20 live shows around the country, as part of Anthony Hamilton and Angie Stone’s “Silk & Sandpaper Tour”. Toshi also just finished taping a performance on “Soul Train” which

makes him the first Japanese-born singer to perform on the show. The episode will be aired on November 13. J!-ENT recently had the oppor-tunity to interview Toshi regarding his new album and his career.

Let’s first talk about your new album “Time to Share”. In your own words, how different is this album compared to “sunshine, moonlight” and “nothing but your love”?TOSHI: Basically, what I’ve been doing is the same. The music I make is the fusion of soul music that I’ve known for the past 30 years and the groove and beat that I like the most at different times. From that, I develop a few songs or tracks here and there, so basically my approach and what I want to do has remained the same. If you want to talk about differences, it comes from the groove that I said I like at different times, which is not necessarily trendy or anything like that, but whatever groove will move me, a groove that makes my head bump, that part is always differ-ent. So, depending on that, the feel that comes about from working with old school music is constantly changing. That, and the producer is doing every album with different people. Especially, this album had many producers that seemed to know each other; the past album or the one before that had a variety of producers, so this time every-one came to the studio with the attitude

of making this together since we were all part of the same circle. I think that’s the major difference from past albums.

One thing I find very interesting about “Time to Share” compared to your previous albums is that each track shows a new side to your mu-sic? In the past, I have always fo-cused on your vocals, always grooved to your music and this album.. it was a musical experience so different from your previous English albums and even your Japanese albums. For example, “Neva Satisfied” and “Hope You’ll Be Well” are very cool and you have the smooth, cool vocals going on but the music was definitely different from past musical efforts. Compared to the track “Breaking Through” which to me is classic Toshi, we definitely get a different taste of your music in this album yet retaining your “Cosmic Groove”.TOSHI: For sure, if you have listened to the album and know the differences, to know the little changes in every song, for instance, to be able to notice the differences in the grooves in “Neva Satisfied” or “Hope You’ll Be Well” or in other songs, you must have a pretty good ear. “Neva Satisfied” and “Hope You’ll Be Well” contain some of the grooves that I feel are the most radi-cal, that I think are the edgiest. That doesn’t mean what I like or what I’m doing is totally changing, but it’s like I said in response to the first question, it’s all connected. What I want to do is always the same, but from that “Neva Satisfied” and “Hope You’ll Be Well” become extreme forms of my music that has resulted in currently the most radical stuff I’ve done on this album. But through the entire album, the only real variation is in the different sorts of grooves that are strong or thin or dense. I think that if I try to create a new groove or new style of album, there will be some things there that won’t be changed; if I find something new, the songs I create, the melody, flow, that part is all from what I’ve been




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listening to for the past 30 years, and the history of soul too, so all that I’ve walked through and heard piles up, so even if I desire to change that I can’t. It’s a very strong influence. What changes is the feel of groove in every different period, so it’s all still very connected.

You worked with various renowned producers on “Time to Share”. How do you choose which producers to work with? TOSHI: They have to understand what I want to make, so they should be some of the most understanding people on the planet. This time was no different. Also, for a variety of people, their respective individual styles, the attitude they bring towards making music, whether it’s a guest rapper or a producer, I choose people who have confidence in their distinct style.

What inspired you during the col-laboration with the producers for this album? TOSHI: Everyone has their own dif-ferent way of doing things. How to make music, making time and sharing methods to create music is different from person to person. From watching and hearing other producers, how they work, their sense of pacing, what meth-ods they use to specialize their craft, what styles they feel most comfortable with, I learnt that if I do all of these things with confidence, a good piece of work of my own can be achieved.

What was your most memorable expe-rience making this album?TOSHI: I can think one in Philadelphia when I was working with Ivan Barias, during which I got into a session in Musiq Soulchild’s studio. When I was there, Musiq himself came in and I felt bad as I thought he wanted to use the studio but Musiq started saying stuff

like “Go ahead! Do your thing, man, do your thing. You gotta do what you gotta do.” I though he said that to be polite, so I thought I’d hurry up and try to finish as fast as possible and get out of there, but it ended up that Musiq let us stay there for another six-seven hours, letting me use his studio until I could stop recording at a good moment. That whole time, Musiq was in the lounge behind the recording studio glass just chilling and waiting and keeping this really laid back flow. He’s such a good guy, genuinely, he’s a really good guy.

Which artists or producers would you like to work with in the future? TOSHI: Floetry. If I could work with these girls, I’d like them to make me a song, or produce a track, maybe even borrow their voice as guest singers; I don’t know what kind of relationship it would be like, but I definitely like their tastes. After that, I’d like to make


“If I were to wish for something, it would be of course to move

through an ideal world; I think it’s a very important thing,

especially in today’s times where conflict is happening all over the world, I want to help

lessen the selfishness in a self-interested world.

The message in my music will hopefully

come through in helping this cause.

That’s my hope.”



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something with Daniel Jobin. He’s related to Antonio Carlos Jobin and does some very Bossa-Nova-esque modern-style music. I want to work with him with playful attitude.

How have things changed for you in the last decade in terms of promot-ing your music in the U.S. from the time you first debuted with “sun-shine, moonlight” compared to pro-moting your latest album “Time to Share”? Do you feel the challenges that you had back then are still the same now or much less?TOSHI: Of course, as you may imag-ine, there are many obstacles to over-come. The situation is not entirely the same as before and yet again it’s still difficult. Particularly, there are so many more White and Black people in the American music industry, hence they comprise the majority of my main staff and team. And they must work with an incredible amount of ambition

and motivation, or else the project does not go forward at all. From that, it isn’t an easy, natural process for me to try and bring out from my team an “enthu-siastic energy” to cheer for an artist like me who has a different color of skin. So, I try hard to have a good commu-nication with my team members and get them motivated. “Japanese guy singing soul music.” This part is “too fresh,” no? I don’t blame them. From there, even the staff that is close to me, as well as the third parties that listen to my music may find me certainly strange, but I want to jump over all of that and conversely, hopefully do well by borrow-ing the help of this universal language called music. From here on out, there will continue to be many high walls and low walls which I’ll have to keep trying to overcome to go forward.

You are regarded as a contributing pioneer of soul/R&B in Japan and now we are seeing Japanese artists and

groups bringing Japanese soul/R&B to the masses in Japan. Do you feel that your music played a key role in opening the gates for these Japa-nese artists?TOSHI: There is certainly a big move-ment in Japan that is continuing to bring about J-R & B, soul and hip-hop in a big way. I don’t know if I am the foundation of this movement, but I think that I am a part, at least. I actu-ally haven’t really thought or was even conscious about being a “pioneer” or as the foundation that has resulted in many other branches. Since I encoun-ter so many new R&B, hip hop artists who respect me and my work, once you run into and hear and see that sort of thing enough, you start to be-lieve it after all. Well, in other words it’s a very happy thing for me to hear such things that, after I hear them I think, “all right” and want to work hard again.


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How did the Japanese music indus-try accept your style of music when you first debuted?TOSHI: When I debuted in Japan, the Japanese music industry was a little skeptical of me. Would soul music translate into sales, would it connect to business; from this perspective it’s easy to understand why one would be skeptical. But to those who under-stood the music. there was a part in them that said “It’s come, it’s come.” To those that could not understand what exactly had come, the music was probably not understandable. But once I put it out there, people sort of liked it more than I thought they would; all sorts of different people liked it. I didn’t really think that deeply about it at the time. I was just thinking, “Wowowow, this is so great!”

I’m not sure if you are aware of this but many people outside of Japan

know of you through your popular hit “La.La.La Love Song” (the theme song of a popular Japanese drama,“Long Vacation”). Many Americans who listen to Japanese music own that CD single and it also is a popular hit for karaoke by your American and also International fans. You go to a karaoke event where fans are singing Japanese songs and always, there is a group of people who want to sing “La.La.La Love Song”. What do you think about that?TOSHI: Thank you very much. People that aren’t American tend to gravitate towards songs that tend to be very pop-feeling songs, specifically since the type of place that a karaoke arena is; but in the case of “La.La.La Love Song,” even among those kinds of songs, I think it stands out. I am very grateful that people who are not Japa-nese want to sing that song. It’s a very happy thing for me. I feel the phrase, “Music is a universal language” come

to me in these moments, and I hope that these moments will continue to grow and grow. But in regards to this specific instance, I am simply very thankful.

Curious, what kind of music and which artist or groups are you currently listening to lately?TOSHI: I already said this name before, but who I like to listen to and admire right now is the two-member unit Flo-etry. After that, the neo-soul artists and music that are expanding all over the world, like Angie Stone, is very good. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said I liked an infinite amount of neo soul artists these days and I can find many artists that I like in this category. But right now, what I like as of this very moment, is Lenny Kravitz’s new song. I heard it on the radio, and often on radio they won’t clearly say whom the singer or the song is, but the voice is very clearly Lenny, the groove is a Neptune’s beat, and the rap is Jay-Z. I’m almost positive that this




10J!-ENT | NOVEMBER 04

is the combination, and it’s a Lenny Kravitz song. I really, really like the pattern. The song doesn’t have much of rock taste, but I like it. It’s a sort of preference of mine.

You always look stylish. What’s your current favorite fashion style and who are your favorite designers?TOSHI: In one word, retro-soul-fashion. Soul fashion that’s retro. It’s not really like hip-hop fashion. If I had to de-scribe it, it’s pretty tight-fitting, like small t-shirts. But on those t-shirts there have to be old soul phrases on them; it’s even better if an old soul album is printed on it, stuff like that. Surprisingly, Ralph Lauren secondhand shops have sort of disappeared, though if you go to Ralph Lauren stores today I think there are special sections dedicated to such clothing, but this style of older, secondhand clothing is all part of neo-soul fashion. After that, if you go to the more buoyant street level, there is a designer called SOUL REBEL, and I like their gear too.

2005 will be your 20th anniversary since debut as a mu-sic artist. During this period, you’ve made tremendous achievement in Japanese music industry and steadily built up a career in America and various Asian countries. As an artist who makes the world his stage, do you have any wish or ambition for the future?TOSHI: Basically, I want more and more and more coun-tries and people to hear my music. I want to expand my music even if it means just one more person will hear it. If I were to wish for something, it would be of course to move through an ideal world; I think it’s a very important thing, especially in today’s times where conflict is happening all over the world, I want to help lessen the selfishness in a self-interested world. The message in my music will hope-fully come through in helping this cause. That’s my hope.

What final words would you like to say to your fans around the world who have supported your English and Japanese music efforts?TOSHI: I don’t know if this will be much of a message, but my new album “TIME TO SHARE” is an album with new songs that I want to share with everyone, and I would be happiest if this album gives you a chance to think about “sharing”. But first, this is still music, so please enjoy the music, please become engrossed in the album’s mood and flow, and after that find new and different ways of enjoying the album. If you can, I want you to get “in the mood” of this music.

For more information on Toshi, please visit his official Web site at: http://www.toshikubota.com. “Time to Share” is available now from Sony Epic and for a sample of his Japanese music here in the U.S., check out “Neo Soul” from Tofu Records (www.tofurecords.com).

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