"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."