Four solo saxophone improvisations, two on tenor and two on soprano, using remarkable technique and concentration from Swiss improviser Christian Kobi performing live in Tokyo and Osaka in 2017, plus a live quartet improvisation with flutist Wakana Ikeda, violinist Yoko Ikeda, and guitarist Taku Sugimoto for an open-approached performance of detailed, minimal improv.
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2017 Country: Poland Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold Recorded live in Tokyo, Kanuma, and Osaka in April, 2017, by Fabio Oehrli.
"The cover also lists Wakana Ikeda, Taku Sugimoto and Yoko Ikeda, but as a quartet they appear on one long track (eighteen minutes), while the other twenty-five minutes are by saxophone player Kobo solo. Hence I think it is best to call this a solo CD by him.
Kobi is from Switzerland and has played with Phill Niblock, Jurg Frey, Keith Rowe and Sugimoto before. 'Atta' was recorded in April 2017 in Japan and has three pieces by Kobi playing tenor saxophone, and one soprano. In all of these solo pieces the emphasis lies on the minimal exploring of sound material, either with longer sustaining blocks of sounds, such in the second (all are untitled) piece, which maybe counts for some Phill Niblock influence or inspiration, but in the fourth and fifth piece it is more about using separate sounds and textures, and the saxophone becomes an acoustic objects that produces all kinds of sounds which are not necessarily usually derived from this instrument. These are two contrasts that work quite well.
On the quartet piece Wakana Ikeda plays flute, Taku Sugimoto plays guitar and Yoko Ikeda plays violin. In this piece they effectively blend together the two contrasts of longer sustaining notes and a more (electro- but sans electricity) acoustic approach towards instruments-as-objects in an ultra-controlled atmosphere of slowly unfolding minimalist music. This may all be very quiet but it is also very intense and it all works very well. Play this at a modest volume and let the musical frequencies do their work in your space."-Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly