Artistry
Kubota incorporates guitar, piano, percussion, into a majority of his song and often writes about love, heartbreak, and the celebration and humor of life. He has cited several musicians as his inspirations, including Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, and Donny Hathaway. Kubota's style is rooted in vintage soul music. He heavily incorporates classical piano and drums with R&B, soul, and pop music. He began experimenting with other genres, including reggae, go-go, psychedelic soul, funk, and rock music, in his latter albums, Kubojah: Parallel Word I, Bonga Wanga, Bumpin' Voyage, and Nothing But Your Love. Karen Hunter of New York Daily News stated "He speaks with an accent, but sings in pure funk. Toshi Kubota, the Japanese soul sensation, blends the old sounds of Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder and even Luther Vandross with an up-to-date smoothed-out funk a la D'Angelo." Time magazine states "Kubota's favored '70s retro-glam ward-robe emphasizes the mood of the music he loves".
Kubota has vocal range of a tenor and falsetto, which spans three octaves. Often referred to as "Funky Kubota", Kubota has been commended as having a strong, raw and impassioned voice; others feel that his voice is a "sake-voiced rhythm" at time and that he pushes his voice out of its natural range.
Kubota is listed as one of Japan's best-selling artists, having sold over 12 million records worldwide.
Read more about this topic: Toshinobu Kubota
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