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JAM Project
Japanese anime song supergroup From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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JAM Project ("JAM" standing for "Japan Animationsong Makers") are a Japanese anison band founded on July 19, 2000, by anison singer Ichirou Mizuki.[1] The band is composed of many vocal artists well known in the anime music industry. Aside from the many anime, tokusatsu, and video game theme songs the band has performed together, each member is famous for their own solo performances of Japanese theme songs.[2] JAM Project is known to worldwide audiences for their theme music contributions to Garo and One-Punch Man.
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History
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JAM Project was founded in 2000 by veteran singer Ichirou Mizuki, who sought to revitalize the fiery spirit of earlier anime songs.[3] He recruited fellow veterans of that space, including Hironobu Kageyama and Masaaki Endoh, who remain members of the group.
The following year, JAM Project began a long association with the Super Robot Wars franchise, performing "Hagane no Messiah" for the PlayStation game "Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden. In 2002, Mizuki and Eizo Sakamoto stepped back from the group but three members would join. Masami Okui had released a number of albums and had performed openings for shows including Slayers and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Hiroshi Kitadani, previously a member of the bands Stagger and Lapis Lazuli, entered the world of anime songs via One Piece and its first of several opening themes he has performed for the long-running series. Yoshiki Fukuyama, like Kageyama, Endoh and Mizuki, was a veteran of the anime world. In the 1990s, he was the singing voice of Basara Nekki in Macross 7.
In 2005, the group began another long association with the Garo franchise, writing opening themes for nearly all iterations of the franchise, both anime and live-action. Kageyama voices Madou Ring Zaruba in every release of the show.[4]
In 2007, JAM Project announced plans to perform outside East Asia. Since 2008, the group has performed internationally with regularity, in cities such as Baltimore, Washington, Rotterdam, Abu Dhabi and Paris, typically in conjunction with anime conventions. 2008 also marked the release of "No Border," their first single not connected with an anime or video game.
In the summer of 2012, they teamed up with Animetal USA for a limited national concert tour called the Japan-America Anison Summit (日米アニソンサミット, Nichi-Bei Anison Samitto).[5] From 2011 to 2014, Japanese composer and conductor Takayuki Hattori served as orchestral arranger on several albums and tours.
In 2015, JAM Project celebrated its 15th anniversary with a series of concerts that contained 39 songs in its setlist chosen from all their previous albums, the most songs in any of their concerts to date. They also released a CD based on a new ultra-high quality (UHQ CD) standard containing re-arranged and re-recorded hits voted on by fans.[6] The same year, the group exposed itself to a new audience through "THE HERO! ~Ikareru Kobushi ni Honō wo Tsukero~" (lit. "Set Fire To The Furious Fist)", their opening for the first season of One-Punch Man. The music video, filmed in San Francisco, has accumulated more than 50 million views on YouTube.[7]
In 2020, the group celebrated its 20th anniversary with the release of the album The Age of Dragon Knights. JAM Project worked with prominent peers, including Yuki Kajiura, GRANRODEO, ALI PROJECT, angela and members of FLOW.[8] The group also released JAM Project 20th Anniversary Complete BOX, which includes all of the group's albums, a collection of its foreign-language recordings, Blu-rays of a concert and other footage, and a 300-page booklet.[9]
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a planned tour to be scuttled. Kageyama, however, credited the unplanned break with rejuvenating the band's creative drive. That rebirth is the subject of the 2021 documentary Get Over -- JAM Project the Movie.[10]
The group's producer is Shunji Inoue, the founder of Lantis and a former bandmate of Kageyama.[11] JAM Project is managed by HIGHWAY STAR, a Bandai Namco-owned agency that represents Kageyama, Endoh and Kitadani in their solo careers.[12][13]
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Members
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- Hironobu Kageyama – founding member
- Masaaki Endoh – founding member
- Hiroshi Kitadani – joined in June 2002
- Masami Okui – joined in March 2003
- Yoshiki Fukuyama – joined in March 2003
- Ricardo Cruz (semi-regular member) – joined in June 2005
Ricardo occasionally composes and performs with the group. He is heard on songs: "熱風！疾風！サイバスター (Neppu! Shippu! Cybuster)," "Gong," "Stormbringer," "Sempre Sonhando 〜夢追人〜 (Sempre Sonhando 〜Yume Oibito〜)," "レスキューファイアー (Rescue Fire)," "守護神 - The Guardian (Shugoshin - The Guardian)," "TRANSFORMERS EVO," "我が名は牙狼 (Waga Na Wa Garo)," "Herói (Portuguese version of Hero)," "未来への誓い (Asu he no Chikai)," "未来への大航海 〜Great Voyage〜 (Mirai he no Dai Koukai 〜Great Voyage〜," "Buddy In Soul," "決戦 The Final Round (Kessen The Final Round," "Treasure In The Sky," "sweet SWEET HOME," "静寂のアポストル (Seijaku no Apostle)," "Tread On The Tiger's Tail," "Homeward Bound," "ジャイアントスイング (Giant Swing)," and "Drei Kreuz 〜鋼のサバイバー〜 (Drei Kreuz 〜Hagane no Survivor〜)."
Former members
- Eizo Sakamoto – founding member; stopped activity with the band in March 2003 prior to Fukuyama and Okui's joining, referring to it as "Graduation" (卒業, Sotsugyō). He returned to perform in the band's 10th anniversary reunion concert in 2010.
- Rica Matsumoto – founding member; announced on April 7, 2008, that she was taking time off from the band to focus on her solo work, since becoming an indefinite hiatus. She returned briefly in 2010 to help write the 10th anniversary version of "KI・ZU・NA" on the album MAXIMIZER ~Decade of Evolution~.
- Ichirou Mizuki – founding member; formally reduced his status to "part-time member" in August 2002, following the band's second live concert. He returned to sing in the single "Stormbringer" in 2006. He also returned to perform in the band's 10th anniversary reunion concert in 2010. The singer passed away on December 6, 2022, due to lung cancer.[14]
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Discography
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Albums
Studio albums
Best albums
Singles
DVDs and Blu-rays
Compilations
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Notes
- JAM Project's second original album, tied in with their 2010 World Tour.[16]
- Symphonic arrangement album; originally set to be released on March 23, 2011; postponed to April 6, 2011, due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[18]
- Tied in with their 2013-2014 live tour of the same name. Recorded in Los Angeles, with over 70 musicians participating. The name is a play on words on the Japanese transliteration of the phrase "samurais again". The logo for the tour often depicts the silhouette of a samurai holding a thumbs-up.[20]
- Contains the song "EMG", used as the opening song for Garo: Vanishing Line.[23]
- Conducted by Takayuki Hattori, the set contained symphonic arrangements of several popular songs and featured solos for each member, including an arrangement of the main theme of Karei-naru Ichizoku with the addition of Endoh on vocals.
- TV anime Yomigaeru Sora – Rescue Wings ending theme, insert & image song collection.
- The 10th anniversary box set release from JAM Project featuring 7 greatest hits albums; a bonus CD containing English, Portuguese, and Chinese versions of several of their songs in addition to any songs they recorded or performed that were not included on any of their other singles and albums; and 4 DVDs featuring all the music videos they created and footage of their live performance, including a reunion concert with Ichiro Mizuki, Ricardo Cruz, and Eizo Sakamoto. It also includes a 200-page JAM Project history book.
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References
External links
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