An extended improvisation performed live at Kuhlspot Social Club in Berlin from the Takatsuki Trio of Rieko Okuda on piano, Antti Virtaranta on bass and Joshua Weitzel on guitar & shamisen (a 3-stringed traditional Japanese instrument), captured at their monthly series expanding the trio to a "Quartett" for fresh perspective, here with alto saxophonist Silke Eberhard.
Label: 577 Records Catalog ID: CD-577R-5874 Squidco Product Code: 30978
Format: CDR Condition: New Released: 2021 Country: Italy Packaging: Digipack Recorded at Kuhlspot Social Club, in Berlin, Germany, on August 20th, 2020, by Antii Virtaranta.
"In 2020, as live music tentatively returned to Berlin under strict regulations, the Takatsuki Trio Quartett organized a monthly concert series at the Kuhlspot Social Club. Though the Takatsuki Trio Quartett, always includes Rieko Okuda (Piano), Antti Virtaranta (Bass) and Joshua Weitzel (Guitar, Shamisen), they exclusively perform as a quartet, inviting a fourth player to join them and lend a fresh perspective on their dynamic sound.
This recording, At Kuhlspot, documents one of those encounters with saxophonist Silke Eberhard, just days after she was awarded the prestigious Berlin Jazz Prize. The band itself derives their name from the Japanese city Takatsuki, located directly between two major metropolises Kyoto and Osaka. Drawing from their namesake, they maintain a similar multi-directionality through structured ambiguity: Trio or quartet? Jazz or experimental sound? Minimalist composition or uninhibited crescendo?
Between Kyoto, Takatsuki and Osaka is the unifying force of the Hankyu-Express train, a fourth object that draws the entities together. Like so, a trio becomes a quartet with its addition. At Kuhlspot is the first 577 release for both Silke Eberhard and Takatsuki Trio Quartett."-577 Records