Disc 1 recorded on April 1 and 2, 1994 at Onkio Haus, Tokyo. Disc 2 to 4 recorded on March 29, 1994 at Pit-Inn, Tokyo.
A brilliant set from Japanese pianist Masabumi Kikuchi – two long, leaping, loping tracks that almost feel like some of McCoy Tyner's best work! Kikuchi plays acoustic piano, and the group's a quartet with Terumasu Hino on trumpet, Koshuke Mine on tenor, Eric Gravatt on drums, and Juni Booth playing some really wonderful bass. Booth's bass leads the tracks with a soulful quality that you don't always hear on Kikuchi's other work – really giving the record a strongly-rooted vibe, while the musicians are still free to really open up and explore. The album's tracks, "East Wind" and "Green Dance", are both excellent examples of the soulful freedoms allowed in the Japanese scene of the 70s – side-long numbers that are different both from contemporary performances on both the US and European scenes of the period.
A document of a 2012 Japanese solo recital – not only the last in his homeland but the last anywhere – by idiosyncratic improviser Masabumi Kikuchi (1939-2015). One of the uncategorisable greats, Kikuchi occupied his own musical universe and in his final years was quietly and systematically severing his ties to jazz, drifting instead towards what he called ‘floating sound and harmonies’, introspective and poetic improvisations. Song forms still sometimes materialized. Kikuchi revisits “Little Abi”, a ballad for his daughter, which the pianist once recorded with Elvin Jones. And there is a surprising and very touching version of the wistfully yearning theme from the 1959 Brazilian film Black Orpheus.
An excellent mid 70s Japanese fusion set, led by the Gil Evans protege Masabumi Kikuchi – with a very similar group to the one on his awesome Susto LP! The vibe isn't quite as funky on this outing – in fact it's a bit more reminiscent of Miles' spacey electric explorations – though there are some pretty hard groovin' moments should definitely appeal to fans of funky fusion. Steve Grossman and Dave Liebman play some nice coloristic lines on reeds, and Terumasa Hino is in fine form on trumpet. The rest of the group is rounded out by Reggie Lucas on guitar playing some hard choppy accompaniment to Kikuchi's synths and electric piano, Mtume on percussion, Al Foster on drums and Anthony Jackson on bass. We're especially keen on the dark and heavy "Auroral Flare", the spacious "Pacific Hushes" which opens with a beautiful line played by Hino and the set's closer "Alone".
Two Japanese jazz greats pianist Masabumi Kikuchi and percussionist Masahiko Togashi recorded “Concerto” in 1991 – quite prolific period for both (especially for Kikuchi who founded one of his most successful project Tethered Moon with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian right at that time). Released soon after, this duo album hasn't been noticed and became an obscurity. Many Kikuchi fans even don't know such release exists. In 2016 it has been re-issued in Japan so it is much more accessible now. Being mostly known as an object of discussions between collectors (as rule no-one of them ever heard its content) – is this album really all that good?
Reissue with the latest remastering. A stunning follow-up to the first Tethered Moon album from the trio of Masabumu Kikuchi on piano, Gary Peacock on bass, and Paul Motian on drums – material recorded at the same time as the first record, but with a vibe that's sometimes slightly different! As before, the acoustic tones of Kikuchi ring out strongly – with those sharper, modern edges that he first brought to play on his key albums of the 70s – but there's also almost a looser quality to some tracks, as Peacock's bass works as a strongly subtle force, as does Motian's drums – both with those special sound-shaping qualities that have made them such unique musicians. Titles include a take on Ornette Coleman's "Turnaround", plus "Little Abi", "Gaia", "True You", and "Conception Vessel".
Masabumi Kikuchi is not the kind of jazz pianist who just strikes the keys to produce a sound. He has a Zen-like approach to the instrument by making it an extension of himself, and thus both constructs and hears the music produced as a different form factor. There are and were other contemporary pianists such as Bill Evans, Denny Zeitlin and the late Canadian classical pianist Glenn Gould, musicians who perhaps may fit into this category, but Kikuchi was a one of a kind artist.