Japanese Jazz Revisited

[T.D.]

I just made an additional commitment to this area. The first two are pretty obvious choices, plus some ventures. 🙄

Shuko Mizuno, Jazz Orchestra 73

Yosuke Yamashita, Clay

Shoji Aketagawa, Alone in Tokuyama (great Monkish playing, will have to get used to the vocals)

Tsunoda Hiro, Summer Samba (love Aketagawa's playing here, with fewer vocalisations but wonkily tuned piano 😉)

and one shot in the dark Johnny's Disk release,

Yoshimi Ueno, Sea Sound (sounds vaguely ECM-ish, but some interesting and slightly more outside tenor and guitar solos)

Either I'm going to get hosed, or I got the last copies of each (DG), because everything reverted to "temporarily out of stock" after I placed the order...

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by T.D.

[HutchFan]

4 minutes ago, T.D. said:

I just made an additional commitment to this area. The first two are pretty obvious choices, plus some ventures. 🙄

Enjoy!    

 

[clifford_thornton]

46 minutes ago, T.D. said:

I just made an additional commitment to this area. The first two are pretty obvious choices, plus some ventures. 🙄

Shuko Mizuno, Jazz Orchestra 73

Yosuke Yamashita, Clay

Shoji Aketagawa, Alone in Tokuyama (great Monkish playing, will have to get used to the vocals)

Tsunoda Hiro, Summer Samba (love Aketagawa's playing here, with fewer vocalisations but wonkily tuned piano 😉)

and one shot in the dark Johnny's Disk release,

Yoshimi Ueno, Sea Sound (sounds vaguely ECM-ish, but some interesting and slightly more outside tenor and guitar solos)

Either I'm going to get hosed, or I got the last copies of each (DG), because everything reverted to "temporarily out of stock" after I placed the order...

 

The Mizuno is good indeed. Swell choices.

[Rabshakeh]

I've really been enjoying the revival of these two threads.

[Late]

7 hours ago, Д.Д. said:

I have both. I listened to a couple of CDs from  the solo set, they are excellent. I have listened to only the first CD of the duo / solo set, and it's a nice one as well, very lyrical.

👍 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. 🤭

1 hour ago, T.D. said:

Shuko Mizuno, Jazz Orchestra 73

Yosuke Yamashita, Clay

Shoji Aketagawa, Alone in Tokuyama (great Monkish playing, will have to get used to the vocals)

Tsunoda Hiro, Summer Samba (love Aketagawa's playing here, with fewer vocalisations but wonkily tuned piano 😉

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.

[T.D.]

While browsing Youtube I came across this...uh..., assertive Abe / Takayanagi collaboration (Disintegration of the Sympathetic). Fun to listen to, but I'm too timid to consider acquiring a recording. 😶

 

Less "out" than what we've been discussing, but Rooster_Ties (Tom?) recommended this (a couple of years ago?) on the forum. I dug it and it started me on the Japanese jazz path.

Edited March 29, 2023 by T.D.

[clifford_thornton]

Big fan of the Takayanagi/Abe duo stuff. It is noise music, but it's great.

Shintaro is cool. Not in love with it, but a solid record.

[Rabshakeh]

2 hours ago, T.D. said:

While browsing Youtube I came across this...uh..., assertive Abe / Takayanagi collaboration (Disintegration of the Sympathetic). Fun to listen to, but I'm too timid to consider acquiring a recording. 😶

 

Back in the day (25 odd years ago...) I asked a friend who was going on a trip to Japan to see if he could score any Kaoru Abe CDs. At the time, I was early in my jazz journey and I was very obsessed with Abe's music. This was the CD that he brought back. It blew my mind at the time because it was so much less "music-like" than other similar records I, a callow youth, had heard up to that point. My friend described going into a Shibuya jazz record shop and asking to buy an Abe record as being a bit like giving a secret masonic handshake.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Rabshakeh

[Late]

5 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

My friend described going into a Shibuya jazz record shop and asking to buy an Abe record as being a bit like giving a secret masonic handshake.

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.

[Rabshakeh]

2 hours ago, Late said:

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.

Maybe Stanley Crouch was a Kaoru Abe fan too.

[T.D.]

Enjoying this Aketagawa album (Erotical Piano Solo & Grotesque Piano Trio) on Youtube:

 

[clifford_thornton]

Yes, that Aketagawa I also had. Maybe I'll come into another copy (can't keep all of it).

[Niko]

More Aketagawa, not Jazz in any strict sense, a favorite

[Late]

2 hours ago, T.D. said:

Enjoying this Aketagawa album (Erotical Piano Solo & Grotesque Piano Trio) on Youtube:

👍 My first exposure to Aketagawa. The record that comes right after this one is also good. His piano is almost microtonal. 😁

12 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Maybe Stanley Crouch was a Kaoru Abe fan too.

Crouch informed me that he only listened to Miles Davis up to Phyllis D. Killy Man Jar-Oh. 

[Rabshakeh]

4 minutes ago, Late said:

👍 

Phyllis D. Killy Man Jar-Oh. 

I'm not surprised. I love her work.

[Late]

2 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

I'm not surprised. I love her work.

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

[T.D.]

On 3/15/2022 at 1:07 AM, Late said:

The Yamashitas are wild in the best of ways. I don't know Rhapsody, however. I wish they would have included Frozen Days or Up To Date instead. 

I think Yamashita's Rhapsody in Blue is a classical-type album, including some pieces by Western composers and one of Y's own compositions. But I can't find/recall the link where I read about it.

Edited March 31, 2023 by T.D.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, I passed on Rhapsody and Exchange (with Haruna Miyake). Maybe that's my mistake but if I'm going to dive into solo or duo 20th century recitals by Japanese pianists, there are other interpreters I'd listen to first.

Speaking of piano duos, the Satoh-Takahashi duo on Columbia is pretty cool.

[T.D.]

17 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

Yeah, I passed on Rhapsody and Exchange (with Haruna Miyake). Maybe that's my mistake but if I'm going to dive into solo or duo 20th century recitals by Japanese pianists, there are other interpreters I'd listen to first.

Speaking of piano duos, the Satoh-Takahashi duo on Columbia is pretty cool.

Have to agree with you on the classical material. Interesting in some sense, but the warhorse pieces have been recorded by so many legends that Yamashita would be doing great if his interpretations merely wound up "in the pack". Mildly curious about his own composition (piano quintet?) but with all due respect I doubt it could be a standout.

That "Satoh-Takahashi duo on Columbia" is attractive! I noticed a CD release on "Bridge" and crossed my fingers it was David Starobin's label 🤣,but of course no dice. The Denon reissue is not uber-scarce (Academy warehouse has it), but I gave up vinyl long ago so probably SOL on that one.

[clifford_thornton]

I've had that duo on LP, and one needs to have a super crisp copy to ensure that the dynamics are there and the quiet parts aren't full of crackle. I have a rip from a CD and that'll do until a NM++ copy lands in my lap!

[T.D.]

Been listening to recordings from my order posted above.

Clay by the Yamashita Trio (w. Sakata, Moriyama) is really strong. I enjoy it even more than the Montreux and Hot Menu recordings (w. Koyama on drums instead of Moriyama) mentioned upthread. It's extremely free if that matters.

[Added] Recently received a bunch of recordings. Right now, will just say that A Figure of Yosuke Yamashita Vol. 1 & 2 has caused me to revise expectations of Rhapsody in Blue upwards. I'd previously heard only three free trio sessions with Akira Sakata. Yamashita's playing on Vol. 1 (quartet) suggests that he should be able to play "classical" proficiently; Vol. 2 (large ensembles incl. strings, with Sakata vocals on one piece) sounds akin to contemporary classical compositions in places. So Rhapsody in Blue might be interesting indeed, but it's still not high on my priority list (too much music, too little time).

Edited April 13, 2023 by T.D.

[T.D.]

On 3/27/2023 at 3:40 PM, Late said:

 

 

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?

I'm also very curious about these boxes. Getting increasingly interested, but they're significant investments. I'm more inclined to duos, but the material on the solo 5-disc set looks more diverse and is (on first impression) slightly more attractive. On the other hand, the solo set has multiple performances of several pieces, which may not be a plus.

[Д.Д.]

On 4/20/2023 at 2:32 AM, T.D. said:

 On the other hand, the solo set has multiple performances of several pieces, which may not be a plus.

These are different pieces, they're just titled the same  . 

I like the solo set more, although I have not listened to it all.  

[T.D.]

Listening to this intense album on Youtube. Not likely to find a recording.

 

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, I have that on LP -- it's a trip! Expanded Yamashita Trio with butoh dancers -- would've been a sight to see.

On 4/19/2023 at 8:32 PM, T.D. said:

I'm also very curious about these boxes. Getting increasingly interested, but they're significant investments. I'm more inclined to duos, but the material on the solo 5-disc set looks more diverse and is (on first impression) slightly more attractive. On the other hand, the solo set has multiple performances of several pieces, which may not be a plus.

If you like McPhee solo you'll enjoy this. It's beautiful.