Masabumi+kikuchi

Masahiko Togashi + Masabumi Kikuchi - Concerto (1991) {Japan Studio Songs Remaster YZSO Series rel 2016}
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© 1991, 2016 Studio Songs Japan / Nippon Crown | YZSO-10064
Jazz / Post Bop / Chamber Music / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano / Percussions

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?

Masabumi Kikuchi - Black Orpheus (2016) {ECM-Universal Music Japan UCCE-1160}
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© 2016 ECM Records / Universal Music Japan | UCCE-1160
Jazz / Modern Creative / Modern Jazz / Piano

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.

Masabumi Kikuchi - Masabumi Kikuchi In Concert (1970) {2015 Japan We Remember Poo Complete Series UCCJ-9206} [CD4of8]
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© 1970, 2015 Philips / Unversal Japan | UCCJ-9206
Jazz / Post Bop / Electric Jazz / Piano

Heavy electric piano from Masabumi Kikuchi – played here on two side-long tracks that really stretch out! The album's a live one, and features Kikuchi working with a sextet – a great lineup that features soprano sax, bass, and drums – plus some added organ and keyboards next to Masabumi's own keyboards – especially nice on one track that also features piano! There's a sensitivity to these tunes that's wonderful – a hint at the straighter Japanese trio mode that would dominate later in the 70s, but played with some of the best boldness that scene was bringing to its work at the start of the decade. Titles are both originals – "Yellow Carcass In The Blue" and "Dancing Mist" – both with a sound as evocative as their titles!

Masabumi Kikuchi - Wishes/Kochi (1976) {2015 DSD Japan East Wind Masters Collection 1000}
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© 1976, 2015 East Wind Music / Universal Japan | UCCJ-9173
Jazz / Post Bop / Fusion

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".

Masabumi Kikuchi - Hanamichi - The Final Studio Recording (2021) {Red Hook Japan, KKJ 9010 rec 2013}
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© 2021 King International / Red Hook Japan | KKJ 9010
Jazz / Modal Music / Post Bop / Piano Solo

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.

Masabumi Kikuchi - One Way Traveller (1982) {2016 Japan Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000 Series SICJ 170}
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© 1982, 2016 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 170
Jazz / Fusion / Electric Jazz / Jazz Funk / Keyboards

Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. A gem of a record from Japanese keyboardist Masabumi Kikuchi – one of those massive Japanese fusion classics that was partly recorded overseas, partly here in the US – with a sound that brings together all the best soulful aspects of both scenes! Kikuchi can create some really weird, wonderful sounds when he wants – but can also slide into a groove with the best of them – and, given the vintage of the record, may well be more inventive than Herbie Hancock ever was at this point in his career! The lineup's filled with great talents – trumpeter Terumasa Hino, reedman Steve Grossman, and guitarist James Mason – coming together wonderfully on titles that include "Sky Talk", "Madjap Express", "Alacalder", and "Sum Dum Fun".

Masabumi Kikuchi Trio - Feel You (1993) {2015 Japan King Super Jazz Collection KICJ 2488}
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© 1993, 2015 King Record Japan | KICJ 2488
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Jazz / Piano Jazz Trio

Reissue with the latest remastering. Pianist Masabumi Kikuchi leads the set, but the group's a very equally-balanced trio that features wonderful work from James Genus on bass and Victor Jones on drums – both players who shape the sound every bit as strongly as the piano! In fact, if you were to hear the record without the cover, you might even think Genus is the leader at times – given the way his rich, deep lines begin some of the cuts – and give a grounding to the record that allows Kikuchi to create these little constellations in sound with his deft lines on the piano – archly modern, yet deeply soulful at the same time – and almost "sparked" into greater flames by Jones' drums. A really special sort of trio date – one that's way more than just the sum of its parts – on titles that include "Free Stroll", "Zig Zag", "Pain Killer", "Up Beat Blues", "20th Street Shuffle", and "Little Treat".

Masabumi Kikuchi - Susto +2 (1981) {2016 Japan Crossover & Fusion Collection 1000 Series SICJ 169}
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© 1981, 2016 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICJ 169
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Funk / Keyboards

Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. A great album of funky Japanese fusion – one of the few sets from the Japanese scene of the late 70s that got any sort of wider release in the US – and a treasure that we've loved for years! The set's got a really great sound – soulful and funky, but sharp too – in a lineup that features a variety of keyboards from Masabumi Kikuchi, plus work by Terumasa Hino on trumpet, Steve Grossman and Dave Liebman on saxes, and James Mason on guitar! The best cuts have a funky feel that's in the CTI/Kudu mode – perhaps mixed with a bit of Herbie Hancock keyboard jamming – and the album's a surprisingly lost funky gem in the Columbia catalog of the early 80s, with a much harder edge than some of the other work on the label at the time!

Masabumi Kikuchi, Masahiko Togashi, Gary Peacock - Poesy (1971) {2015 Japan We Remember Poo Complete Series} [CD5of8]
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© 1971, 2015 Philips / Universal Japan | UCCJ-9207
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Free / Piano / Percussions

A set that definitely lives up to the poetry promised in its title – with none of the too-clean sounds you might guess from its hand-washing reference either! The album's one of the freest, most organic sessions we've heard from pianist Masabumi Kikuchi – almost improvised at points, but with a poetic cohesion in the piano lines that's really great – kind of an offbeat sense of lyricism that points in the same directions that Steve Kuhn or Keith Jarrett were heading in the late 60s. Drummer Masahiko Togashi plays lots of cool percussion and even a bit of gong – and Gary Peacock's bass here is as great as on any of his other excellent Japanese recordings. Titles include "Dreams", "The Trap", "The Milky Way", "Apple", "Get Magic Again", and "End".

Masabumi Kikuchi, Gary Peacock, Paul Motian - Tethered Moon - Triangle (1991) {2015 Japan King Super Jazz Collection KICJ-2487}
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© 1991, 2015 King Record Japan | KICJ-2487
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano Trio

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".