Abe

This recording dating from 1970 is duo free improvisation from two of the Japanese avant-garde music scene's most vital practitioners. Both have since passed on and left some of the most challenging music in the world of post- jazz improvisation. It has been said that this duo are like the Tokyo equivalent of Derek Bailey and Evan Parker and it is easy to see why. Some the New Direction Unit recordings of the '60 predate noise and free improvised music of the following decades in that they deployment of feedback-guitar and noise are frankly shocking when we consider the culture and the era in which these were produced. Fans of the extreme end of improvised music – be it Sonny Sharrock, Peter Brotzmann, or Borbetomagus should give at least an hour of your attention to this incredible recording – this could only be matched by the singular music of Cecil Taylor for total outward-bound energy. Exceptional recording fidelity and production on the Japanese D.I.W label, this is a must for collectors of free jazz and Japanese noise alike.

Keiko Abe has developed her position as a world-class musician thanks to a rare combination of creative power, acute sensitivity and virtuosic technique. Here she plays some of her most well-known and beloved compositions.

Jelly Roll Morton was once quoted as saying that truly authentic jazz had a certain "Spanish tinge" to it. Playing On Light: 7 Sounding Photos, and indeed many of the growing number of new and interesting releases coming from Spain, make that a difficult statement to disprove.

Playing On Light is the fourth release by Abe Rabade, a talented pianist from Galicia, Spain, and his third release heading up a trio. Each of the seven compositions is based on a series of photographs (reproduced in the accompanying booklet) by artists such as Arno Rafael Minkkinen and Paul Caponigro, making this a concept album of sorts.

Pléïades was composed during the 1978-79 period upon the appointment of the city of Strasbourg. The composition was played for the first time by Les Percussions de Strasbourg at a performance staged by Les Ballets du Rhin on May 3, 1979. In 1985, the Makoto Aruga Percussion Ensemble of Japan recorded the music for the first time. Les Percussions de Strasbourg, to which Xenakis dedicated this work, also recorded it in 1986 with the composer in attendance.