Late

She hired Armando Korea to do some electronic keywork I hear.

👍 My first exposure to Aketagawa. The record that comes right after this one is also good. His piano is almost microtonal. 😁 Crouch informed me that he only listened to Miles Davis up to Phyllis D. Killy Man Jar-Oh.

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Yes. 😁 The one time I met Stanley Crouch, he shook my hand. It was the weirdest of grips. Wynton was there and gave Stanley a look.

Dusty Groove currently has this title for under $5. Required listening in a Jug-A-Thon.

👍 Thank for the heads-up. I have to poke around the internet to see if I can find sound samples. Every disc I have on NoBusiness (only six) I really enjoy. I'll probably pick up the Takagi on NoBusiness at some point. I still haven't spent enough time with the Sam Rivers on NoBusiness though, so should take my time. 🤭 Great picks. The Mizuno, I think, is iconic. The Yamashita is well-recorded, and just kills. The Aketagawas—it'll be interesting to hear your impressions. "Wonky" is right, but in the best of ways. The vocalizations, to me, aren't a distraction, but rather a reflection of his utter commitment to what he's doing (even if it sounds like at times he doesn't have a clue). Sometimes it's as if the piano sounds are an accompaniment to the man's chants and groans. Definitely not for everyone, but for me there's a certain hypnotic sense once a listener drops their defenses and just walks into the wave. One thing is true—he meant every note he played.

Will look into those. 👍 Johnny's Disk on Discogs.

那由佗現成 👉👍👈 Thank you for bringing this album to this thread's attention—great stuff!!

Just saw this on CD Japan's site: 15 Japanese Jazz Masterpieces reissued. Cardboard sleeves.

Nice! Would be interested in your impressions when you've had a chance to go through them. In December 2019, coinciding with the "beginning" of COVID, Deep Jazz Reality reissued over a dozen titles from Aketa's Disk. Excellent remastering. I picked up eight Aketagawa discs as well as the latest reissue of Takayanagi's Angry Waves. My favorite Aketagawa album is: Sometimes I think Aketagawa is the true heir (if such a thing exists and/or matters) to Monk's legacy. I also think Monk would've thought Aketagawa was absolutely bonkers—and then stayed to listen to his whole set. Aketagawa isn't at all the composer that Monk is, but their stubborn individuality makes them (in my mind) kinsmen. I can see Aketagawa adoring Monk, and Monk being cracked up by Aketagawa's playing. They both share the most idiosyncratic sense of humor and melody. I don't know the Johnny's Disk label. Will have to look into it.

A word of warning about Aketagawa—he prefers out-of-tune pianos, and his "singing" along with his solos...makes Keith Jarrett sound like...an actual singer. 🙃 An acquired taste to be sure.

Which albums? Do you have any Shoji Aketagawa? He's free, but not at all in the way that Yamashita is. As much as I like Yamashita, who I think is amazing, it's Aketagawa who I spin the most. But...they're two very different vibes. And since this is a Japanese Jazz thread, and since Yamashita has been mentioned, I just want to put this one out there as perhaps one of the earliest (1969) examples of the "free" Japanese scene. Strongly recommended: Akira Sakata is not on this one. Instead it's Yamashita's first horn player: Seiichi Nakamura. He holds his own, though perhaps not at the level of mastery that Sakata brings to the table. I didn't know that Light In The Attic reissued this one. (I have the Japanese reissue.) Sound is crunchy, but the vibe is amazing, especially given the circumstances the album was recorded under. The protest call that begins the album, even though I don't understand any of it, sets the mood perfectly. This album is on a level with Spiritual Unity and Machine Gun. That important, I'd say.

These are the Yamashita albums I'd like to see reissued. Both were on compact disc circa 2008. I missed the short window of opportunity. Frozen Days in particular is very strong. I think it's a better album than the two Yamashita albums linked to above. (Still, I'm glad to have them.) I hope Octave Lab keeps reissuing Japanese Jazz and 70's jazz. Another Japanese jazz album, from 1980, that I'd love to see reissued (there was a compact disc reissue out in 2015; once again, I missed the window) is Akira Sakata's Pochi: I haven't heard everything by Sakata, but this one has to rate as containing some of his very finest playing. The album is intense and shockingly beautiful. Hijacking welcome! 😁 Interesting read about that Victor album. 👌 Anyone pick up this 3-disc set from Dusty Groove (or elsewhere)? Curious to hear reviews... Or this one? 5 discs might be a bit much, but maybe not?

These are the three Niehaus CDs I own. All excellent, though I do think Niehaus's writing works best when a piano isn't present. The quintet and sextet work seems to get more music out of fewer horns. The octet work often (but not always) doubles parts, which effectively reduces the number of voices. That said, "You And The Night And The Music" is a great octet track—some wonderful weaving there. I also think that Shelly Manne really, really elevates any track he's on. He had an intuitive sense about writing like this.

The Jug-A-Thon transformed into a Lock-A-Thon. This one is so well-recorded. Rudy got the bass level just right. The music in total is fabulous: Weird thought—sometimes Lock reminds me of Eric Dolphy. Not the interval leaps, but the smearing of certain phrases (Lock's "cork" moments?) that are notes/not notes at the same time. I actually think a Dolphy/Lock frontline pairing, at least for one album, would've worked.