An absolutely impressive example of collective free improvisation as the quartet of Japanese jazz masters Takashi Seo on acoustic bass and Akira Sakata on alto saxophone, clarinet, vocals, and percussion meet Australian Darren Moore on drums & percussion, and Russian Simon Nabatov on piano for an extended 6-part live set at Chiba's "Jazzspot" Candy.
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Sample The Album:
Takashi Seo-acoustic bass
Akira Sakata-alto saxophone, clarinet, vocals, percussion
Darren Moore-drums, percussion
Simon Nabatov-piano
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UPC: 5024792084326
Label: Leo Records
Catalog ID: LEOR843.2
Squidco Product Code: 26652
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2018
Country: UK
Packaging: Jewel Case
Recorded live at "Jazzspot" Candy, in Chiba, Japan, on November 27th, 2017, by Joe Talia.
"Not Seeing Is A Flower is the culmination of a six-city tour of Japan in November 2017 that aligned four musicians from different orbits; Japanese free jazz saxophonist Akira Sakata, Tokyo bassist Takashi Seo, Russian born, Cologne-based pianist Simon Nabatov and Australian drummer Darren Moore. The Quartet's Japan tour grew out of Nabatov's two month-long Asian sojourn where he performed in Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and Japan. Not Seeing Is A Flower captures the fire, intensity and range of the quartet's musical explorations. Recorded live at the legendary Jazz Spot Candy in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo on the final date of the tour, the first set and abridged second set offered here can be seen as a distillation of the group's character that developed over one week on the road."-Leo
"According to Google, In Japan, the phrase "not seeing is a flower" means things will never be as you imagine, so you're better off not seeing them, making it an interesting allegory to freely improvised music. The talented band on this album consists of Takashi Seo on bass, Akira Sakata on alto saxophone, clarinet, vocals and percussion, Darren Moore on drums and percussion and Simon Nabatov on piano. The music unfolds gradually almost like a ceremony that is improvised in that very moment, beginning with "Surge" which has spare piano, bowed bass and percussion. The music gains a faster pace quickly, with a rolling collective improvisation that Sakata gradually joins a few minutes in with his trademark gruff and powerful saxophone playing, and this pushes the music over the top into a stellar free jazz blowout that is very exciting. The music moves dramatically into open space, allowing for raw saxophone to flourish, gradually moving into the track "Retreat" with delicate piano creating an evocative mood, picking up speed and dancing through the short piece with bass and drums. Sakata returns for "Uncoil" with subtle brushwork and taut bass nearby, turning darker with scouring bass and saxophone swooping in. The music swells with intensity as the band comes together to become a near physical force of power and grace. Their playing is able to wax and wane, with Moore deftly weaving quiet brushes in with powerful pummeling. Thick tones of bass alternate with ripe bowing, leading to amazing textures that pull in the whole group, with dexterous and propulsive piano to boot. Sakata's startling vocalizations are at the heart of "Ritual" with percussion, piano and bass creating a phalanx behind him, the music seethes coiled power and energy, while at the same time evoking a solemn and ceremonial sensibility. "Resolve" has Sakata moving to clarinet, the light nimble sound seemingly at odds with his gritty saxophone and vocals. The rhythm sections pushes relentlessly and the music develops a unique drive and sense of motion, sounding stark and pungent. This leads the to impressive finale, "Abscond" which develops over fourteen minutes to strong statement of this group's prowess. Sakata's raw and stoic saxophone is quite affecting and the musicians around him are no less potent, creating a collectively improvised tapestry of considerable color and vividness, which is also an apt description of this excellent album as a whole."- Tim Niland, Jazz and Blues Blogspot
Get additional information at Jazz and Blues Blogspot
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Takashi Seo "Takashi Seo: Double Bass Player. Born in July 1, 1979 in Sapporo, Japan. In 2001, In 2001, joined many sessions while taking a trip to Cuba and U. S. A. In 2006, appeared for Yokohama Jazz Promenade Competition by "Mikio Ishida Trio" and won the grand prix and Yokohama citizen Prize. He played with many musicians such as Fumio Itabashi (pf), Achim Kaufmann(pf), Tristan Honsinger(Cello),Tetsu Saito(Cb), Eiichi Hayashi (sax), Yukihiro Isso(Noh musician), Yoriyuki Harada(pf), Daisuke Takaoka(Tuba), Akira Sotoyama(ds), Syota Koyama(ds) ,Jean Laurent Sasportes(dance), Leona(tap),Taketeru Kudo(Butoh) a lot... Takashi Seo presides over a contrabass group "Teigen" by ten several bass from 2003. He invited a bassist on behalf of Japan such as Hideto Kanai, Nobuyoshi Ino, Tetsu Saito. He performed many music festival, Yokohama Jazz Promenade, Singaporean WOMAD, RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL in EZO, PERCPAN(Rio de Janeiro,Salvador),ASIAN IMPROVISATION ART EXCHANGE2010(Seoul), International society of BASSISTS Convention 2013(Rochester. NY) The Zomer Jazz Festival(Groningen,Neitherland) a lot.. Continues collaboration with not only jazz but also free improvisation and baroque music, every world music, dance and art and experiences most." ^ Hide Bio for Takashi Seo • Show Bio for Akira Sakata "Akira Sakata (坂田明; born 21 February 1945 in Kure, Hiroshima) is a Japanese free jazz saxophonist. Sakata began studying music seriously at high school, where he played clarinet.[1] He played alto sax in a jazz band when at Hiroshima University.[1] He trained as a marine biologist. Sakata joined the Yamashita Yosuke Trio from 1972 till 1979 and toured internationally with them. In 1986, he performed with Last Exit with Bill Laswell. This performance was released as 1987's Noise of Trouble: Last Exit Live in Tokyo. Laswell went on to play bass on and produce Sakata albums such as Mooko, Silent Plankton and Fisherman's.com, the last of which also featured the reclusive Pete Cosey (who had worked with Miles Davis) on guitar.[2] In 1994, Sakata organized a one-month tour of Uzbekistan, Mongolia and China with the Flying Mijinko Band, consisting of 14 members from Japan, Africa and America. Some of those included were Laswell, Anton Fier and Foday Musa Suso. He has more recently worked with DJ Krush[3] and Chikamorachi (Darin Gray and Chris Corsano)." ^ Hide Bio for Akira Sakata • Show Bio for Darren Moore "Born in Scotland, raised in Australia and based in Tokyo, Darren Moore (b. 1974) is a drummer and electronic musician who is always moving forward. Driven by his passion for artistic expression, Darren is continually challenging himself to explore new territory. Creative improvisation is central to his practice maintaining a through-line in his approach to varying projects and activities. His current projects include free-improv group Game of Patience, audio-visual duo Black Zenith, Carnatic rhythm based percussion duo of Darren Moore/Suresh Vaidyanathan, free jazz unit the Tim O'Dwyer Trio, as well as bio-art project 'cellF'. Darren's musical journey began when he starting playing drums at 14 years old in his home town of Perth, Australia. His early musical experiences where playing rock music in the underground local music scene before entering the Western Australian Conservatorium where he completed a Certificate in Classical Percussion in 1993 and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Drumming in 1997. After graduating from university, Darren moved to London which proved to very formative to his development as musician through having exposure to the broad range of musical experiences. Darren returned to Australia in 2002 where he lived in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. In 2006 Darren moved to Singapore to become a Lecture in Music at Lasalle College of the Arts where he taught drum set, popular music studies and creative improvisation. Darren is a passionate teacher who believes strongly in nurturing the next generation of musicians. His commitment to education saw Darren complete a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the Queensland Conservatorium in 2013 which looked at the adaptation of Carnatic Indian rhythms to the drum set. The move to Singapore saw him expand his activities and network to become active on the jazz and experimental music scenes in South East Asia and Japan. In Singapore, Darren was a driving force in the jazz and experimental music scenes performing regularly and organising events with under the banner of the C.H.O.P.P.A. Experimental Music Series. Darren was the artistic director for the 2008, 2010 and 2015 C.H.O.P.P.A. Experimental Music Festivals. In 2014 he was also the artistic director for the Singapore leg of the Australian sound art festival Liquid Architecture. Darren moved to Tokyo in mid-2015 and has since been active playing with many of the Tokyo scene's more adventurous improvisers and has quickly established himself as an exciting new voice on the Tokyo music scene." ^ Hide Bio for Darren Moore • Show Bio for Simon Nabatov "Simon Nabatov's musical education began at the age of 3, his father, himself a musician, being the first teacher. The Central School of Music and Moscow Conservatory were the next steps. After the whole family emigrated and settled in New York in 1979, Nabatov continued his studies at the Juilliard School Of Music. By that time his interest and involvement in jazz and improvised music grew strong enough to make them his main activity. Since then he performed and recorded with many fine musicians such as Paul Motian, Tony Scott, Sonny Fortune, Kenny Wheeler, Alan Skidmore, Herb Robertson, Louis Sclavis, Charles McPhearson, Billy Hart, David Murray, Paul Horn, Ricki Ford, Marty Ehrlich, Mark Dresser, Barry Guy, Gerry Hemingway, Jim Snidero, Herb Geller, Dave Pike, Attila Zoller, Matthias Schubert, Barry Altschul, Vladimir Tarasov, John Betsch, Ed Schuller, Arto Tuncboyaci, Adam Nussbaum, Paul Heller, Jay Clayton, Ron McClure, Mark Feldman, Drew Gress, Phil Minton, Michael Moore, Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg, Wolter Wierbos, Paulo Alvares, Gareth Lubbe, Ben Davis and many others. He enjoyed continuous work with Ray Anderson Quartet, Arthur Blythe Quartet, Perry Robinson Quartet, NDR Big Band (Hamburg,Germany), Steve Lacy - Simon Nabatov Duo, Nils Wogram Quartet, Nils Wogram - Simon Nabatov Duo, Matthias Schubert Quartet, Matthias Schubert - Simon Nabatov Duo and Klaus König Orchestra. His own projects and activities included, since three decades, hundreds of solo recitals.In the early 90s Nabatov founded the trio with the bassist Mark Helias and the drummer Tom Rainey; the quartet "Nature Morte" with the British vocalist Phil Minton, multireed-player Frank Gratkowski and trombonist Nils Wogram (both from Germany); and the quintet including his trio plus the violinist Mark Feldman and the trumpet player Herb Robertson.In 2003 another trio was formed, with the cellist Ernst Reijseger and the drummers Michael Vatcher (and later Michael Sarin). As co-leader Nabatov played and recorded in duos with Steve Lacy, with the German tenor sax player Matthias Schubert, American drummer Tom Rainey, Dutch drummer Han Bennink, German trombonist Nils Wogram, Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger and the Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg, just to mention a few. His current duo partners are the South-African born viola player and vocalist Gareth Lubbe, the Turkish clarinetist Oguz Buyukberber and the Brazilian pianist Paulo Alvares. In the 1999-2000 season a large-scale radio production project (co - sponsored by WDR and Bayer AG) saw him write and record over 6 hours of music for solo piano, duo (with the American reed player Michael Moore), his trio, the quartet "Nature Morte" and the quintet. Beginning of 2000 the Swiss label HatHut Records brought out the first recording - the trio release "Sneak Preview". The next three recordings, quartet "Nature Morte", quintet "The Master and Margarita" and solo "Perpetuum Immobile" have been released by Leo Records. Two more CD´s - " Chat Room" ( duo with Han Bennink ) and "Autumn Music" ( trio with Ernst Reijseger and Michael Vatcher ) were brought out by this independent English label.The next project produced by WDR in 2004 was a 90 - minute piece " A Few Incidents" based on the texts of Russian writer Daniil Charms. The octet included Phil Minton, Frank Gratkowski, Nils Wogram, Ernst Reijseger, Cor Fuhler, Matt Penman, Michael Sarin and Simon Nabatov. Leo Records released the recording of this composition in 2005. Together with "Nature Morte" and "Master and Margarita" it completed the "Russian Trilogy", 3 musical projects based on the Russian literature. In 2009 Nabatov, sponsored by the Cologne culture institutions, completed a 5-day project called "Roundup" (involving M.Schubert, N.Wogram, E.Reijseger and T.Rainey), resulting in 3 CD's released on Leo Records: quintet "Roundup", a trio with E.Reijseger and M.Schubert - "Square Down" and another one with N.Wogram and T.Rainey - "Nawora". Starting around 2000, parallel to his jazz activities, Simon Nabatov developed a deep interest for the culture and music of Brazil. This led him to study the Portuguese language, travel number of times throughout the country and learn a great deal about a number of different musical genres. Some of the more structured activities in that field were a CD release "Around Brazil" on the ACT label (2006), and the two-months long Goethe-Institut "Artist-in-Residence" in Porto Alegre, which allowed Nabatov to learn more about the regional "musica gaucha". Since 2007 he often performs his solo program based on Brazilian music. In the recent years Nabatov also delved into the field of electronic music, learning MAX/MSP programming environment; in April 2013 he premiered his new solo program for piano and computer, developed together with the German composer and electronic music specialist hans w. koch. In December 2016 excerpts from this program made up a half of the program of his most recent CD "MONK 'N' MORE". Another musical adventure of the recent years was Nabatov's solo program dedicated to the music of the great jazz composer and pianist Herbie Nichols. Leo Records released a highly acclaimed CD of that program, and the PanRec label brought out a DVD.2015 saw Nabatov realize a four-part project "...still crazy after all these years" (celebrating 25 years in Cologne), which resulted in forming 4 new trios: with two young Cologne musicians Stefan Schoenegg and Dominik Mahnig, with Andre de Cayres and Rodrigo Villalon (dedicated to Brazilian music), with two giants of improvised music Barry Guy and Gerry Hemingway, and a trio with two string players, Gareth Lubbe (viola) and Ben Davis (cello). The first documentation of the project - Simon Nabatov Trio "Picking Order" was released August 2016 on Leo Records. Other 3 releases are planned for 2017. Simon Nabatov performed and recorded numerous pieces of chamber music, some of them written specially for him: "Piano Concerto "Baba" by the American pianist/composer Kenny Werner, "Sonata for violin and piano" by the Irish bassist/composer Ronan Guilfoyle,"Trumpet Sonata", "Cello Sonata", "Trio for flute,cello and piano" by the Swiss reed-player/composer Daniel Schnyder. He also performed and recorded some of the more known "crossover" works, such as "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin (NDR Symphony Orchestra Hannover,1998) or "Concerto for Jazz Ensemble and Orchestra" by Rolf Liebermann (NDR Symphony Orchestra and Big Band, Hamburg,1996). Nabatov was among the winners of the 3rd "International Great Jazz Pianist Competition" in Jacksonville, USA (2nd prize) in 1985, and of the "Martial Solal International Jazz Piano Competition" in Paris, France (3rd prize) in 1989. In 1987 he was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Simon Nabatov made numerous radio productions for most of the major European broadcasting companies: WDR, NDR, HR, BR, SFR, Radio France, Radio Zürich, Radio Ireland etc. He played on countless international jazz festivals including Paris, Antibes, Helsinki, Zagreb, Nevers, Berlin, Dublin, Cork, Vilshofen, Bergamo, Groeningen, Vilnus, Karlsbad, Genua, North Sea, Brugge, Voss, Bergen, Riga, Vilnius, Ulrichsberg a.m.o. Simon Nabatov gave concerts and workshops in over 60 countries, he appears on ca. 70 recordings, and his own music and projects are documented on over 25 CD's and 3 DVD's (all DVD's on PanRec). He has taught at the Folkwang Hochschule (Essen), Musichochschule Lucerne (Switzerland) and at the International Jazz and Rock Academy (Remscheid).2012 - 2014 he was the substitute professor of Jazz piano and Ensemble at the Conservatory of Hannover, Germany. Since 1989 he resides predominantly in Cologne, Germany, but keeps an apartment and a part of his heart in New York." ^ Hide Bio for Simon Nabatov
5/14/2024
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5/14/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
5/14/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
5/14/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Surge 9:46
2. Retreat 3:17
3. Uncoil 9:12
4. Ritual 6:54
5. Resolve 7:45
6. Abscond 14:38
Leo Records
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation and Experimental Forms
Asian Improvisation & Jazz
Quartet Recordings
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