Tenko : "At the top of MT. Brocken"

(Recrec, 1993)

1- Blue heat
2- Moonlight waltz
3- If I...
4- A piece of silence
5- Dressed in memories
6- Bolero hyperbolic
7- Dodo
8- Water hours
9- The sands just sigh
10- Cardiogram
11- There play children in the flowering meadow
12- Interwoven
13- Temptation
14- At the top of MT. Brocken
15- A crack in a lie
16- An irregular attack
17- Drifting
18- The last angel

musicians :

Tenko : vocal, guitar
Yukihiro Issou : nho-kan (3, 9, 12)
Tsuneo Imahori : guitar (2, 5, 6, 10, 14)
Swoowoong Lim : spring noise (1)
Kazutoki Umezu : sax, clarinet (8, 13, 14)
Wataru Ohkuma : piano, vocal, clarinet (6, 10, 11)
Yoshihide Otomo : turntables, guitar, tape, voice (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17)
Hideki Kato : bass (3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 14, 18)
Kyoko Kuroda : piano (2, 12, 14)
Kenichi Takeda : taisho-koto (4, 11, 17)
Motoharu Yoshizawa : bass (3, 4, 12)
Tatsuya Yoshida : drums, voice (3, 6, 12, 14, 16)

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Lawrence D. Butch Morris : "conduction 28 & 50"

(New World, 1995)

1- Conduction #28, Part II-X (20:56)
2- Conduction #28, E (2:59)

musicians :

Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris: conductor
Yukihiro Isso: nokan
Shonosuke Okura: oh-tsuzumi
Makiko Sakurai: shomyo, music box
Michihiro Sato: tsugaru shamisen
Kizan Daiyoshi: shakuhachi
Yuji Katsui: violin
Haruna Miyake: piano
Asuka Kaneko: voice
Shuichi Chino: computer
Koichi Makigami: voice
Yoshihide Otomo: turntables, CD player
Kazutoki Umezu: bass clarinet
Sachiko Nagata: percussion
Motoharu Yoshizawa: electric vertical bass
Kazuo Ohno: Butoh dance
Koichi Tamano: Butoh dance

recorded at P3 Art and Environment, Tokyo on March 28, 1993

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1- Conduction #50, Part I (37:15)
2- Conduction #50, Part II (33:42)
3- Conduction #50, E I (1:57)
4- Conduction #50, E II (3:12)

musicians :

Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris: conductor
Asuka Kaneko: electric violin
Kim Dae Hwan: percussion
Haruna Miyake: piano
Shonosuke Okura: ohtsuzumi
Hikaru Sawai: koto
Yumiko Tanaka: gidayu-shamisen
Yoshihide Otomo: turntables
Michihiro Satoh: tsugaru-shamisen
Tomomi Adachi: voice
Keizo Mizoiri: bass
Motoharu Yoshizawa: electric vertical bass
Ayuo Takahashi: zheng

recorded at P3 Art and Environment, Tokyo on March 5, 1995

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John Zorn's Cobra : "Tokyo operations '94"

(Avant, 1995)

Cobra 1: Sensyo (6:07)
Cobra 2: Tomobiki (9:27)
Cobra 3: Senbu (8:08)
Cobra 4: Butsumetsu (8:54)
Cobra 5: Taian (8:05)
Cobra 6: Shakko (9:54)

musicians :

Koichi Makigami: prompter
Yukihiro Isso: dengaku-bue, nokan
Masahiro Uemura: percussion
Kazuhisa Uchihashi: guitar
Shinichi Kinoshita: shamisen
Kiyohiko Semba: percussion
Makoto Takei: shakuhachi
Yumiko Tanaka: gidayu-shamisen
Hitomi Nakamura: hichiriki
Miki Maruta: koto
Mekken: bass
Kyoko Yamamoto: vocal
Taeko Ito: ortin doo

(composed by John Zorn)

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Excerpts from a conversation with John Zorn (THEAWL 03/17/2011) :

The Awl: When did you first travel to Japan? To what extent were you already aware of the depth of the avant-garde tradition there before you went? Or, put another way: how much was still left for you to discover once you arrived?

JZ: this is a long question. I was way into japanese art, literature, film, music and theatre from my teens—in the 60s. First I went there in 1985 or so I kept an apartment there in KOENJI (tokyo) til 1995. I played with SO MANY artists is hard to keep track. I remember seeing a trio of yoshida tatsuya, yamataka eye and null called I believe GEBA GEBA that really was amazing. I hooked up with EYE that very night and we have been tight ever since! The scene there was and still is incredibly diverse and creative. Amazing energy and imagination !!

The Awl: It's funny how some way-out recordings—such as Coltrane's "Live in Japan" box set—were first issued in Japan as though they were no big commercial risk. Maybe it's because music on the fringe feels as though it's so aggressively marginalized in the U.S., but I'm curious how you see Japan's relationship, as a country, to its own musical avant-garde.

JZ: its just as hard for the avant garde in Japan as it is for the avant garde here but the integrity, creativity and tenacity they have is inspiring. They do what they do with no compromise, and very little outside support.

The Awl: Can I ask you for your Top 10 list, regarding extreme/experimental/noise/improv albums by Japanese artists?

JZ: I can't do the top ten but here is a list of some of my favorite musicians !!!

asakawa maki
sato masaru
yamataka eye
yoshimi
haino keiji
makigami koichi
yoshida tatsuya
katsui yuji
seiichi yamamoto
takahashi yuji
ryuichi sakamoto
akiko yano
hosono haruomi
toshinori kondo
ohta hiromi
aoyama michi
kitajma saburo
takemitsu toru
otomo yoshihide

.......................................

Yukihiro Isso : "It's so isso"

(King, 1991)

1- Toh hyo-hyo
2- Bi-byohnn
3- Scarecrow and the red dragonfly
4- The fable of the elementary school for minnows
5- Just for fantasia
6- The pastoral village
7- Soku-ryu-teki-ha

musicians :

Yukihiro Isso : nohkan & shinobue flute
Natsuki Kido : guitar
Masahiro Uemura : percussion
Kiyoshi Yoshitani : shimedaiko (japanese drum)

guests :

Yosuke Yamashita : piano (2)
Akira Sakata : sax (7)
Kazumi Watanabe : guitar (1)
Kiyohiko Semba : percussion (1,2,5,7)

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