デレク・ベイリーの１９８７年の日本ツアーから、厚木市 FAR OUTでの高木元輝とのデュオ・ライヴを収録。客席には豊住芳三郎の姿もあった。

 

Derek Bailey - guitar
Mototeru Takagi 高木元輝 - soprano sax

 

CD

1. Duo I	28:11
2. Duo II	17:38
3. Duo III	8:09
4. Duo IV	16:38

 LP

Side A
DUO I

Side B
DUO III
DUO IV

 

• All music improvised and composed by Derek Bailey and Mototeru Takagi
• Recorded live in 1987 at FarOut, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan by Kojiro Tanaga田中康次郎
• Mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios
• Front cover photos by Asami Mitzhito (Derek Bailey) and Akira Saito 齊藤聡 (Mototeru Takagi)
• Design by Oskaras Anosovas
• Produced by Takeo Suetomi 末冨健夫, Kojiro Tanaka 田中康次郎 and Danas Mikailionis
• Co-produced by Valerij Anosov
• Release coordinator: Kenny Inaoka from Jazz Tokyo

高木元輝　公式ホームページはこちら。

 

Moment's Noticeのreviewはこちら。

Jazz Tokyoのレヴューはこちら。

Jazz Tokyo 及川公生氏のレヴューはこちら。

Salt Peanutsのレヴューはこちら。

dustedのレヴューはこちら。

All about jazzのレヴューはこちら。

 

*Chap Chap RecordsでのLPの販売は、終了いたしました。

CDの在庫は有ります。

 

Album réunissant le guitariste Derek Bailey et le saxophoniste Mototeru Takagi, ici au sax soprano et disponible en CD et en LP. En 1987, Derek Bailey est au sommet de son art. Lors de différents séjours au Japon, il rencontre régulièrement une série de musiciens japonais qui avaient participé à son LP « Duo & Trio Improvisation » (Kitty Records avril 1978) : le trompettiste Toshinori Kondo, le percussionniste Toshiyuki Tsuchitori, le contrebassiste Motoharu Yoshizawa, et les saxophonistes Kaoru Abe et Mototeru Takagi. Il rencontra aussi le batteur Sabu Toyozumi, un proche compagnon de cette fratrie d’improvisateurs, aujourd’hui décimée, l’extraordinaire trompettiste Toshinori Kondo étant décédé le mois dernier. Parmi tous ces pionniers de la free-music nippone, Mototeru Takagi n’a pas acquis le statut légendaire des Abe, Takyanagi, Toyozumi, Kondo, Sakata dont les enregistrements fleurissent au point que No Business publie une suite ininterrompue d’albums en collaboration avec le label Chap-Chap de Takeo Suetomi, lui-même un légendaire organisateur de concerts. Celui-ci a cru bon de proposer ce souvenir lointain d’un concert à Atsugi, là-même où Brötzmann et Bennink ont gravé leur album le plus recherché par les collectionneurs, en frappant fort ! Peu importe avec qui il joue, Derek Bailey cultive un art extraordinaire pour tirer un parti créatif d’une confrontation – dialogue en dévoilant encore plus la richesse (illimitée) de son jeu. Si Mototeru Takagi n’est sans doute pas un saxophoniste soprano comparable à des géants comme Steve Lacy, Evan Parker ou Lol Coxhill, il suit sa route sans ciller en étendant son langage avec audace manifestant une volonté bien accrochée. Sa démarche est orientée vers une forme de lyrisme détaché, poétique, subtil par ses altérations sur les tonalités et des pointes sonores extrêmes. Le Duo I s’étend sur 28 :11. La sauce prend mieux encore dans la deuxième improvisation (Duo II 17 :39) où Derek Bailey joue acoustique en solitaire pour commencer, évoquant parfois la sonorité d’une cithare japonaise koto. Visiblement, cela inspire Takagi qui s’applique à dialoguer avec une belle logique. Duo III - 8:09 : le dialogue atteint la plénitude, le timbre du sax acquiert une lueur intense, une chaleur sereine. Il poursuit sa route et découvre un parcours sinueux alors que son compagnon s’est tu, face à un silence interrogateur strié par des aigus. On enchaîne sur le Duo IV - 16:37. Derek Bailey a repris sa guitare électrique et exploite les harmoniques avec la pédale de volume. Le jeu de Mototeru Takagi évoque les ritournelles et cascades polytonales de Lacy. Le duo bat alors à plein avec les staccatos secs aux harmoniques filantes du guitariste sans pour autant que le saxophoniste s’échappe de son attitude pensive, voire réservée. La guitare s’anime, les balancements du guitariste dans les intervalles distendus évoluent progressivement dans des cadences impénétrables et tel un canard face à un étang ensoleillé, le sopraniste caquète et nasille pour enfin étirer des aigus saturés en réponse aux couperets des clusters maniaques. Alors que le concert atteint dès lors un climax où chacun quitte ses procédés habituels en complète métamorphose en étirant les sons, on a le sentiment que D.B. aurait certainement sélectionné cette dernière partie dans un imaginaire album Company Made in Japan. Ce serait d’ailleurs une excellente idée de rééditer à nouveau l’album de 1978 « Duo and Trio » avec les excellentes prises alternatives publiées par la suite et un deuxième CD complété de sélections de rencontres ultérieures de Bailey avec ces musiciens dans les années 80 et 90.

 

(Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg)

 

 

 

New York City Jazz Records  by Pierre Crépon

 

The contrast between two recent NoBusiness releases

featuring saxophonist Mototeru Takagi, who would

have turned 80 this month (if the circulating birth year

is to be trusted), underlines a particular aspect of the

free music scene in Japan. Although American avant

garde jazz was a major inspiration for the first local

New Thing players in the late ‘60s, a group to whom

Takagi belonged, a willingness to engage European free

improvisation methodologies also became apparent in

the ‘70s. This could not be said of the U.S. musicians

who had provided the original impetus.

Guitarist and leading European improviser Derek

Bailey first recorded with Takagi in a Tokyo studio in

1978. Unlike Kaoru Abe, the other saxophonist on that

date, Takagi hasn’t yet achieved legendary status. Abe’s

music often seemed to be the expression of a soul laid

bare, at times in a nearly unbearable manner. With

Takagi, there is a greater distance between the listener

and the performer. Although Takagi had mastered the

torrential streams of sound characteristic of early free

jazz, the control he seemed to exert in different

situations made him a very adaptable musician and

presence in many of the early Japanese groups. Takagi’s

travels outside Japan remained limited, but he did

spend time in France in 1974, on the tail of the local free

jazz boom. When he first visited New York in 1983,

he played with drum master Sunny Murray and

violinist Billy Bang.

This adaptability is evident throughout the duet

with Bailey issued as Live at FarOut, Atsugi 1987.

Sticking to soprano saxophone rather than his primary

tenor, Takagi negotiates his way through an exhausting

hour-long performance circumscribed by the

parameters Bailey set for his music. The guitarist’s

concentrated focus on unconventional techniques

situates the music in the area of detailed tone

production, set against a sparse background devoid of

all artifacts used by American colleagues. The points

where the instrumentalists’ sonic explorations meet

constitute the session’s primary interest.

Working outside of this circumscribed area,

Takagi’s playing moves on to another order of

magnitude. On Live at Little John, Yokohama 1999, Takagi

is featured on tenor with drummer Shota Koyama and

two wind players one generation younger: Susumu

Kongo and Nao Takeuchi. Respectively playing alto

and tenor and both doubling on flute and bass clarinet,

they will be names known only to specialists of the

Japanese scene but are nevertheless excellent musicians.

The liner essay indicates that Kongo is also a noted

repairman and that Takeuchi has been a student of both

Takagi and Byard Lancaster.

There are several outstanding moments in the

40-minute opening piece, but Track Two is the stunner

and gives an accurate idea of the overall dynamic.

It opens with tenor underscored by low bass clarinet

tones held through circular breathing. A short cyclical

motive signals the move into another phase, which

could be described using the vocabulary applying to

classic free jazz buildups. But here, gradually increasing

intensity does not proceed from cumulative playing

merging into a single sound mass; it results from an

explosive amount of multidirectional melodic and

rhythmic invention from the three horns, all playing

simultaneously, but with impressive delineation. As on

most of the tape, Koyama’s drumming remains

economical and supportive.

Elsewhere, Takagi has also taken the uncommon

step of approaching U.S. free jazz in terms of repertoire,

playing pieces by Ornette Coleman, Charles Tyler,

Steve Lacy or the Art Ensemble of Chicago. This piece

reaches its conclusion as if following the classic

organization of jazz performances that still figured in

the music of the early American pioneers, returning to

the opening statement, calmly and with perfect balance.

This is mature music that uses the best of what had

been uncovered during the long and convoluted history

of free playing. It is also, importantly for an archival

release, not music heard before. Takagi died three years

after this performance.

The CD versions of those two releases contain the

extended performances. On vinyl, duration is reduced

roughly by half. Both recordings are part of NoBusiness’

series of releases in partnership with promoter and

producer Takeo Suetomi’s Chap Chap label (it should

be noted that Chap Chap’s original catalog, difficult to

find outside Japan, is now available on Bandcamp). The

series opens the door on archives generated close to a

source of consistently remarkable music and Takagi’s

 

quartet may be one of the best releases yet.

Michael Rosenstein - Point of Departure

The Lithuanian NoBusiness label pulls another gem from the vaults with the release of this previously unissued live recording of Derek Bailey and Japanese reed player Mototeru Takagi, recorded live in 1987 at FarOut, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan. Part of the initial group of Japanese free jazz players, Takagi ought to be far better known than he is. Starting out in percussionist Motoharu Yoshizawa’s trio in 1968, Takagi went on to play with key Japanese free improvisers like Masahiko Togashi, Masayuki Takayangi, Motoharu Yoshizawa, Itaru Oki, Toshinori Kondo and Sabu Toyozumi. From the late ‘60s on, this community of musicians began charting a collective approach to uncompromising freedom, increasingly collaborating with visiting free players from Europe and the US. Takagi was amongst those tapped when Milford Graves visited Japan in 1977 (documented on the album Meditation Among Us) and when Derek Bailey visited in 1978 (documented on the album Duo & Trio Improvisations). Bailey returned to Japan a number of times after that 1978 meeting, including the tour that resulted in this recording.

When Bailey returned in 1987, he played some solos, duos with dancer Min Tanaka, and in a trio with Peter Brötzmann and percussionist Sabu Toyozumi as well as in this duo session with Takagi. The reed player sticks to soprano saxophone across the four expansive duos, a half hour opener, two 17-minute pieces, and a relatively compact 8-minute foray. Bailey’s electric guitar playing is in top form throughout, his lightning, refracted angular phrasing bursting with brittle resonance. One can readily hear why Bailey gravitated to Takagi. The reed player immediately hits with an acidic attack, starting with long tones that ring against Bailey’s harmonics, patiently building to lithe, spiky intensity. It’s always great to hear Bailey when he finds a potent foil, and the two clearly revel in the intertwined, parallel arcs that develop. Particularly over the course of the first piece, they take their time, probing, prodding, letting their respective lines course, ring against each other, unhurriedly unwind, only to lunge forth, bristling with skirling vigor, ending with Takagi looping a lyrical thread to close things out.

“Duo II” starts with a deliberate, spare solo by Bailey as his overtones and prickly lines splinter and scrabble with resolute deliberation. Takagi only enters two thirds of the way through, picking and prodding against Bailey’s lines, and then quickly gathering momentum as the two accelerate their way toward a skittering conclusion. The 8-minute long “Duo III” introduces a freely abstract lyricism to their playing, as the two navigate their way with restless flutters and flourishes, ending with a short solo segment for the reed player’s circuitous phrases. “Duo IV” picks up with pinched, overblown reed overtones that resolve into melodic threads which stretch over Bailey’s steely resonance and fissured harmonic fragments. Bailey’s mastery of attack and sustain shines through, often laid bare as Takagi drops back, waiting for opportune moments to dive back in. There are sections which build more density, owing perhaps to the rapport the two have developed over the set. But they never let that density overwhelm the proceedings, knowing when to pull back to build tension and then release in flurried torrents. This release is a welcome discovery of a prime, unknown session by Bailey and should serve to put Takagi on listeners’ radar.

 

Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg - Orynx Improv and Sounds Blog

Album bringing together guitarist Derek Bailey and saxophonist Mototeru Takagi , here on soprano sax and available on CD and LP. In 1987, Derek Bailey was at the top of his game. During various stays in Japan, he regularly meets a series of Japanese musicians who had participated in his LP " Duo & Trio Improvisation(Kitty Records April 1978): trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, percussionist Tsuchi Tsuchitori, double bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa, and saxophonists Kaoru Abe and Mototeru Takagi. He also met drummer Sabu Toyozumi, a close companion of this now decimated sibling of improvisers, the extraordinary trumpeter Toshinori Kondo having passed away last month. Among all these pioneers of Japanese free-music, Mototeru Takagi has not acquired the legendary status of Abe, Takyanagi, Toyozumi, Kondo, Sakata whose recordings flourish to the point that No Business publishes an uninterrupted series of albums in collaboration with the Chap-Chap labelby Takeo Suetomi, himself a legendary concert organizer. He saw fit to offer this distant memory of a concert in Atsugi, where Brötzmann and Bennink engraved their most sought-after album by collectors, by hitting hard! No matter who he plays with, Derek Bailey cultivates an extraordinary art to take creative advantage of a confrontation - dialogue by revealing even more the (unlimited) richness of his playing. If Mototeru Takagi is undoubtedly not a comparable soprano saxophonist to giants like Steve Lacy, Evan Parker or Lol Coxhill, he follows his path without blinking, extending his language boldly showing a strong will. His approach is oriented towards a form of detached lyricism, poetic, subtle by its alterations on the tones and extreme sound points. Duo I spans 28:11. The sauce gets even better in the second improvisation (Duo II 17:39) where Derek Bailey plays solo acoustically to begin with, sometimes evoking the sound of a Japanese koto zither. Obviously, this inspires Takagi who applies himself to dialogue with a beautiful logic. Duet III 8:09: the dialogue reaches fullness, the timbre of the sax acquires an intense glow, a serene warmth. He continues on his way and discovers a winding path while his companion is silent, facing a questioning silence streaked by trebles. We continue on the Duo IV. Derek Bailey has resumed his electric guitar and exploits the harmonics with the volume pedal. Takagi's playing evokes Lacy's polytonal ritornellas and cascades. The duo then beats at full speed with the dry staccatos to the stringing harmonics of the guitarist without the saxophonist escaping from his pensive, even reserved attitude. The guitar comes alive, the guitarist's swings in the distended intervals progressively evolve in impenetrable cadences and like a duck in front of a sunny pond, the sopranist cackles and noses to finally stretch saturated highs in response to the cleavers of manic clusters. While the concert therefore reaches a climax where everyone leaves their usual procedures in complete metamorphosis by stretching the sounds, we have the feeling that DB would certainly have selected this last part in an imaginary Company Made in Japan album.

 

Pierre Crepon - New York City Jazz Record

Guitarist and leading European improviser Derek Bailey first recorded with Takagi in a Tokyo studio in 1978. Unlike Kaoru Abe, the other saxophonist on that date, Takagi hasn’t yet achieved legendary status. Abe’s music often seemed to be the expression of a soul laid bare, at times in a nearly unbearable manner. With
Takagi, there is a greater distance between the listener and the performer. Although Takagi had mastered the torrential streams of sound characteristic of early free jazz, the control he seemed to exert in different situations made him a very adaptable musician and presence in many of the early Japanese groups. Takagi’s
travels outside Japan remained limited, but he did spend time in France in 1974, on the tail of the local free jazz boom. When he first visited New York in 1983, he played with drum master Sunny Murray and violinist Billy Bang. This adaptability is evident throughout the duet with Bailey issued as Live at FarOut, Atsugi 1987.
Sticking to soprano saxophone rather than his primary tenor, Takagi negotiates his way through an exhausting hour-long performance circumscribed by the parameters Bailey set for his music. The guitarist’s concentrated focus on unconventional techniques situates the music in the area of detailed tone production, set against a sparse background devoid of all artifacts used by American colleagues. The points where the instrumentalists’ sonic explorations meet constitute the session’s primary interest.

 

Catfish Records

 

★フリー・ギター・インプロヴィゼーションの孤高のゴッドファーザー：ディレク・ベイリー(1930年英国サウス・ヨークシャー州シェフィールド生まれ、2005年ロンドンで死去)の、本盤は、1987年の来日時、本邦即興派リード(ここではソプラノサックスに専念)の第一人者のひとり：高木元輝(1941年大阪生まれ、2002年死去)(1939年神奈川県横浜市生まれとするプロフィール紹介記事も一部ネット上に見られる)とのデュオによる、厚木(神奈川県)のFarOutでの公演の模様を捉えた未発表ライヴ音源、の初ディスク化。

★迫真のフリー・インプロ交感、全4トラック。アブストラクトでありしっかりスピリチュアルでもある、キュキュッと絞りの利いたソプラノサックスの狂おしく慟哭するかのような錐揉み遊泳咆哮が切々と轟き、かたやこれに細かく呼応する風な面も適度に垣間見せながら、しかし基本的には超然とマイペースを保って奇異頓狂で幾何学的なノイジー音響実験に粛々と没頭する感じの、怪しく掻き鳴らされるギター音の蠢きも、揺るぎない毅然さ・決然さをもって鋭く炸裂し、両者のそれぞれ一歩も引かぬ丁々発止のインタープレイが殊の外生々しくスリリングに盛り上がりを見せて、情魂世界(仄かに日本的な妖しい情念の世界・・・か)の推移・深淵を結構エモーショナルに物語ってゆくリリカルな傾向と、徹底してシュール&メカニカルに情感を排して、音の立体図形のヴァリエーション展開を目くるめく変幻自在さでシリアスに探究し続ける雑色地下活動テイスト、との(卓抜な拮抗バランスで成立した)鬩ぎ合い音空間にヒリヒリした感触でハマらせてくれる、何とも痛気持ちいい濃密内容。

★過激で異形な面もあるが決してスピリチュアリティを失わない高木(ss)の旨口キャラと、頑として甘さや人情味を殺し厳しい表情で剃刀の如く一聴無脈絡そうな引っ掻きハジき純抽象弾奏道に邁進してゆくベイリー(g)の全くブレのない一徹さ。そうした各々が妥協なく壮烈に我が道を突き進んで、水と油の断絶になるかと思いきやそんなことはなくて、意外とベイリーがテンポやリズム面で濃やかに高木と調子を合わせていたり、高木の方もわりかしストイックに情緒を抑え込んでちょっとアンビエントっぽく不思議な奇音を響かせたり、といった具合で互いに歩み寄り協調するツーカー・アプローチも絶妙の匙加減で盛り込まれ、大方はコントラスト鮮烈でありながら大いにドラマティックな昂揚と感動に溢れた、予断を許さず一音たりとも無駄のない、何げにギッシリ中身の詰まった血沸き肉躍る超充実・超清新なる流れに仕上げられている。見事!!!★フリー・ギター・インプロヴィゼーションの孤高のゴッドファーザー：ディレク・ベイリー(1930年英国サウス・ヨークシャー州シェフィールド生まれ、2005年ロンドンで死去)の、本盤は、1987年の来日時、本邦即興派リード(ここではソプラノサックスに専念)の第一人者のひとり：高木元輝(1941年大阪生まれ、2002年死去)(1939年神奈川県横浜市生まれとするプロフィール紹介記事も一部ネット上に見られる)とのデュオによる、厚木(神奈川県)のFarOutでの公演の模様を捉えた未発表ライヴ音源、の初ディスク化。

★迫真のフリー・インプロ交感、全4トラック。アブストラクトでありしっかりスピリチュアルでもある、キュキュッと絞りの利いたソプラノサックスの狂おしく慟哭するかのような錐揉み遊泳咆哮が切々と轟き、かたやこれに細かく呼応する風な面も適度に垣間見せながら、しかし基本的には超然とマイペースを保って奇異頓狂で幾何学的なノイジー音響実験に粛々と没頭する感じの、怪しく掻き鳴らされるギター音の蠢きも、揺るぎない毅然さ・決然さをもって鋭く炸裂し、両者のそれぞれ一歩も引かぬ丁々発止のインタープレイが殊の外生々しくスリリングに盛り上がりを見せて、情魂世界(仄かに日本的な妖しい情念の世界・・・か)の推移・深淵を結構エモーショナルに物語ってゆくリリカルな傾向と、徹底してシュール&メカニカルに情感を排して、音の立体図形のヴァリエーション展開を目くるめく変幻自在さでシリアスに探究し続ける雑色地下活動テイスト、との(卓抜な拮抗バランスで成立した)鬩ぎ合い音空間にヒリヒリした感触でハマらせてくれる、何とも痛気持ちいい濃密内容。

★過激で異形な面もあるが決してスピリチュアリティを失わない高木(ss)の旨口キャラと、頑として甘さや人情味を殺し厳しい表情で剃刀の如く一聴無脈絡そうな引っ掻きハジき純抽象弾奏道に邁進してゆくベイリー(g)の全くブレのない一徹さ。そうした各々が妥協なく壮烈に我が道を突き進んで、水と油の断絶になるかと思いきやそんなことはなくて、意外とベイリーがテンポやリズム面で濃やかに高木と調子を合わせていたり、高木の方もわりかしストイックに情緒を抑え込んでちょっとアンビエントっぽく不思議な奇音を響かせたり、といった具合で互いに歩み寄り協調するツーカー・アプローチも絶妙の匙加減で盛り込まれ、大方はコントラスト鮮烈でありながら大いにドラマティックな昂揚と感動に溢れた、予断を許さず一音たりとも無駄のない、何げにギッシリ中身の詰まった血沸き肉躍る超充実・超清新なる流れに仕上げられている。見事!!!