Eclipse has always been the most mysterious of the Takayanagi and New Direction records, originally issued in an edition of 100 copies, this reissue remasters the album from the original tapes to present the unique vision of improvising guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi and his band with Kenji Mori on alto sax, flute & recorder, Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and Hiroshi Yamazaki on drums.
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Masayuki Takayanagi-guitar
Kenji Mori-alto sax, flute, recorder
Nobuyoshi Ino-bass
Hiroshi Yamazaki-drums, percussion
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Remastered from the original tapes by Elysian Masters, packaged in a heavy double tip-on gatefold jacket that pays tribute to the original handmade packaging and features a previously unseen studio photograph of Takayanagi by Tatsuo Minami.
UPC: 769791980945
Label: Black Editions
Catalog ID: BE 014LP
Squidco Product Code: 31714
Format: LP
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: USA
Packaging: LP
Recorded in Tokyo, Japan, on March 14th, 1975, by Mikio Aoki .
"Masayuki Takayanagi was one of the truly iconoclastic musicians to emerge from Japan, or anywhere else, in the 20th Century. Though he won acclaim in the 1950's and 60's as a master of the electric guitar and jazz improvisation, Takayanagi was a restless spirit, deeply engaged with the era's new movements in contemporary art, music, literature and philosophy. His work, beginning in the late 1960's placed him on the leading edge of these developments; he began expanding on the most radical elements of American and European free jazz, infusing them with the raw feedback and dissonance of electronic and avant-garde music. With his various "New Direction" groups, Takayanagi broke free of traditional structures and developed a new theory of music that embraced an aggressive and unrelenting style of playing that has remained almost completely unparalleled in its ferocity.
Of all the albums to be released during Takayanagi's lifetime, 1975's Eclipse was perhaps the most enigmatic and sought after. Released in an edition of only 100, it almost immediately disappeared and became a Holy Grail for Japanese connoisseurs of adventurous music, and rightly so. It's first side contained a two part realization of Takayanagi's "Gradually Projection" modality - a searching interplay between instruments- slowly emerging from a sparse open field and building with the tension of a looming thunder storm. The second side contains an epic performance of a "Mass Projection", a high energy, densely layered barrage of sound that in its 25 minutes, never once slackens its intensity. It would be another 31 years before this key album in Takayangi's oeuvre would finally have a (slightly) wider audience through a CD release by Japan's P.S.F. Records."-Black Editions
Remastered from the original tapes by Elysian Masters, packaged in a heavy double tip-on gatefold jacket that pays tribute to the original handmade packaging and features a previously unseen studio photograph of Takayanagi by Tatsuo Minami.
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Masayuki Takayanagi "Masayuki 'Jojo' Takayanagi (高柳昌行) (December 22, 1932 - June 23, 1991) was a Japanese jazz / free improvisation / noise musician. He was active in the Japanese jazz scene from the late 1950s. In the 1960s he formed New Directions (later New Direction Unit), which recorded several albums throughout the 1970s. He also recorded several albums with saxophonist Kaoru Abe, including Kaitai Teki Kohkan, Gradually Projection and Mass Projection." ^ Hide Bio for Masayuki Takayanagi • Show Bio for Kenji Mori "Kenji Mori (Japanese 森 謙 治, Mori Kenji, born March 21, 1942 in Keijō, Protectorate of Korea, the Empire of Japan (now Seoul, South Korea)) is a Japanese jazz musician (alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute) and music producer. Mori worked in the early 1970s with Masayuki Takayanagi (the first live recordings were made in 1971), Sunao Wada, Isao Suzuki, Masaru Imada. In 1974 he recorded under his own name the album Solo & Trio, where he was accompanied by Hideo Ichikawa (with Tamio Kawabata and Arihide Kurata). 1975 followed the music devoted to Charlie Parker's album Plays the Bird (Offbeat), the Mori had recorded in a trio with Nobuyoshi Ino (Bsss) and Tetsujiro Obara (drums). In the following years he worked with Hideto Kanai & Kings Roar Orchestra, Shuko Mizuno / Toshiyuki Miyama & New Herd, in the formation Tea and Company (Sonnet, 1977, with Takao Uematsu), with Bingo Miki & Inner Galaxy Orchestra and with Tatsuya Nakamura, With Masayuki Takayanagi he guested in 1980 at the Moers Festival. With Kazumi Watanabe, the bassist Nobuyoshi Ino and the drummer Steve Jackson 1977 he recorded the album Firebird (Three Blind Mice); 1982 followed the live album Be-bop '82 (with Yoshihiko Naya, Toshihisa Morita, Masashi Kato, Shunsuke Andoh), where he performed Bebop classics such as "Donna Lee", "A-Leu-Cha"and" My Little Suede Shoes" interpreted. In the field of jazz he was involved between 1971 and 1985 in 25 recording sessions. He then worked as a music producer." ^ Hide Bio for Kenji Mori • Show Bio for Nobuyoshi Ino "Nobuyoshi Ino (born March 26, 1950, Gunma) is a Japanese jazz double-bassist. Ino began playing professionally in the early 1970s, and worked in that decade with Motohiko Hino, Terumasa Hino, Kosuke Mine, Akira Miyazawa, Masahiko Sato, Isao Suzuki, Hidefumi Toki, and Kazumi Watanabe. Early in the 1980s he played with Masayuki Takayanagi and Aki Takase, then formed a duo with Lester Bowie, performing from 1984 to 1988 (including on the 1985 album Duet). He also worked with Alex Schlippenbach and Sunny Murray in a trio setting and toured with Elvin Jones. He founded an ensemble called Four Sounds in 1989 which featured Kosuke Mine, Fumio Itabashi, and Hiroshi Murakami as sidemen. Later in his career he worked with Masahiko Togashi as well as with Aki Takase once more." ^ Hide Bio for Nobuyoshi Ino • Show Bio for Hiroshi Yamazaki "Hiroshi Yamazaki, real name Yasuhiro Yamazaki (山崎泰弘), is a Japanese jazz/free jazz drummer, born in Tokyo. He has performed and recorded with Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit, Otomo Yoshihide, and Evan Parker." ^ Hide Bio for Hiroshi Yamazaki
3/13/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
3/13/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
3/13/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
SIDE A
1. First Session 1 (Gradually Projection) 11:02
2. First Session 2 (Gradually Projection) 09:13
SIDE B
1. Second Session (Mass Projection) 25:44
Vinyl Recordings
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Jazz
Asian Improvisation & Jazz
Quartet Recordings
Jazz Reissues
New in Improvised Music
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