Free Japanese Music

[freeform83]

Can anyone recommend some Japanese musicians who operate on the more experimental or avant-garde side of the spectrum? I am only aware of Merzbow and the percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, but I feel like I a missing out on an entire world of stuff that I would like, particularly in the more jazz-based realm. What inspired me to ask was the thread about the Gary Peacock album with Japanese sidemen that were totally unfamiliar to me.

[John B]

Sticking to more jazz-based recordings:

recent:

I highly recommend Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet / Orchestra.

They recorded a complete cover of Dolphy's Out to Lunch that would be a fairly easy entry point, although I prefer the live discs on DIW and Clean Feed.

historical:

check out guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi. One reviewer described him as sounding like "Sonny sharrock, Fred Frith and Derek Bailey, all rolled into one."

I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I think he fits what you are looking for.

[freeform83]

Thanks, John. Anything that sounds like Sonny Sharrock is what I am looking for... And the reason I list "jazz" and "noise" (as in the classification that people give to Merzbow) is because I am interested in finding an area where they overlap.

But more specifically, I am wondering if there is a specifically "Japanese" subgenre of avant-garde/free jazz, something unique to that nation and its culture. Japan seems to have a much stronger avant-garde tradition than any other Asian country, perhaps more akin to Europe.

[David Ayers]

Word here for Keiji Haino. Psychedelic rock and improv rather than 'jazz'.

And word here too for Shoji Hano (uhh... see the Funny Rat thread...)

[.:.impossible]

I just picked up a Haino disc today in the used bins. Everytime I see him now, I think of the Kaoru Abe biopic Endless Waltz.

Here's a live clip of Abe from the late 70s.

[clifford_thornton]

Sticking to more jazz-based recordings:

historical:

check out guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi. One reviewer described him as sounding like "Sonny sharrock, Fred Frith and Derek Bailey, all rolled into one."

I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I think he fits what you are looking for.

Takayanagi on Paris Transatlantic

Check out saxophonists Kaoru Abe, Mototeru Takagi, and more recently, Masayoshi Urabe. Takagi has an interesting looking solo record where he plays songs by Charles Tyler, among others - I'd like to hear that one.

Sabu Toyozumi and Masahiko Togashi are two of the most prominent drummers in Japanese improvisational music; Togashi has played with Masahiko Sato, Steve Lacy, Charlie Haden and a number of others - though I still really get the most kick out of We Now Create, a quartet from '69 with Takayanagi, Takagi and bassist/cellist Motoharu Yoshizawa. Sabu is simply a motherfucker - the duos with Abe are untouchable...

Kitty Records put out a couple of interesting international meetings of Japanese free players with both Milford Graves and Derek Bailey. These are in print on CD, and are both excellent records:

Milford Graves - Meditation Among Us w/ Abe, Takagi, Toshinori Kondo (tp), Toshi Tsuchitori (perc)

Derek Bailey - Duo and Trio Improvisation w/ Abe, Takagi, Yoshizawa, Kondo, Tsuchitori

Edited July 27, 2007 by clifford_thornton

[clifford_thornton]

Here's a great resource (but not for the faint of wallet):

Improvised Music from Japan

[.:.impossible]

Kitty Records put out a couple of interesting international meetings of Japanese free players with both Milford Graves and Derek Bailey. These are in print on CD, and are both excellent records:

Milford Graves - Meditation Among Us w/ Abe, Takagi, Toshinori Kondo (tp), Toshi Tsuchitori (perc)

Derek Bailey - Duo and Trio Improvisation w/ Abe, Takagi, Yoshizawa, Kondo, Tsuchitori

Do you have a good source for the Graves disc by chance? Chez.

[clifford_thornton]

I'll keep an eye out - it was put out on CD by Polydor within the past couple of years.

I've had the vinyl for some time, but the CD I've seen in stores recently.

[JSngry]

Kitty Records put out a couple of interesting international meetings of Japanese free players with both Milford Graves and Derek Bailey.

Not to sidetrack the discussion, but this caught my eye, since Kitty was the label for whom Monday Michiru did most of her Japanese work. Any idea who was behind that label & just exactly how...diverse their offerings might have been?

[B. Clugston]

A word for bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa. Great player.

check out guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi. One reviewer described him as sounding like "Sonny sharrock, Fred Frith and Derek Bailey, all rolled into one."

His early '70s stuff with Kaoru Abe makes for great blindfold test stumpers.

[clifford_thornton]

Kitty Records put out a couple of interesting international meetings of Japanese free players with both Milford Graves and Derek Bailey.

Not to sidetrack the discussion, but this caught my eye, since Kitty was the label for whom Monday Michiru did most of her Japanese work. Any idea who was behind that label & just exactly how...diverse their offerings might have been?

It was/is a subsidiary of Polydor Japan, I believe. If the gamut runs from Monday to Milford, I'd say the catalog is diverse enough!