Sugar Mama

Sugar Mama

Sugar Mama is a four-piece jazz-rock band from Osaka, Japan. It begins in March 2001, when Yuki Hayashi and Keiichi Kondo form the group, and it settles into its best-known line-up after a series of member changes with the additions of Cine-raria in November 2003 and Kohichi in August 2004. The group mixes jazz, Latin music, rock and other styles, and it presents itself as an open-ended fusion project rather than a fixed genre act.

The band is known for live performances and for an approach that draws on a wide range of musical influences. Its material combines jazz-rock with Latin elements and other sounds brought in as the project develops. The Osaka group is active until April 2007, when it disbands.

A separate Dutch blues band also uses the name Sugar Mama. That act begins in 1986 and plays blues, boogie, roots music, acoustic blues, rock and roll and some country music, and it performs at festivals, on television and radio, and in bars in the Netherlands and abroad. It also supports artists including Rory Gallagher and Dr. Feelgood.