a r t i s t : Takayanagi Masayuki New Direction for the Art
t i t l e : Complete La Grima
d a t e : 2007
l a b e l : doubtmusic (dmh-113)
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : Jun/2007
t r a c k s : 01
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 62,1 MB
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Masayuki Takayanagi: guitar
Kenji Mori: saxophone
Hiroshi Yamazaki: percussion
Recorded live at the Genya Festival, Sanrizuka, August 14,
1971
Photos by Kenji Ishiguro
Mastered by Tsutomu Suto
Design by Akira Sasaki
Produced by doubtmusic
Includes liner notes by Jun Numata in Japanese and English
(translation by Cathy Fishman)
Released in March 2007
The first six minutes or so of this performance can be heard
on the omnibus LP Genya (released on CD in 2004).
http://www.japanimprov.com/indies/doubtmusic/lagrima.html
When an avant-garde free jazz outfit plays, and the audience
is moved not just to boo and jeer but to also THROW THINGS at
them, that's when real fans of outside improv insanity should
go, man, I've got to check this out! That the band in question
featured the legendary Japanese guitarist Masayuki Takayangi
makes perfect sense, since back in the day he was pretty much
THE most shockingly extreme electric guitarist in the realm of
"jazz."
As would likely be the case today, too, were he still alive.
What we have here then is the notorious "La Grima" ("Tears").
41 minutes, 45 seconds of EXPLOSIVE densefreejazzfreakout from
a true power trio: Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar, Kenji Mori
on sax, and Hiroshi Yamazaki on drums, recorded live at the
Genya Festival on August 14th, 1971. This wasn't a normal
music fest, rather it was more of a demonstration organized in
protest against the expansion of the Narita airport. And as
radical as the protesters were, they apparently couldn't
handle Takayanagi's "new jazz" music AT ALL. His New Direction
For The Arts group was NOT well-received at Genya. Those folks
who were throwing stuff would probably be surprised to learn
that 36 years later, "La Grima" would be a handsomely-
presented cd release, eagerly awaited in fact by fans not even
born back then!
Yes, here at last is the full unedited recording -- previously
just a tantalizing six minutes were heard on the Genya
compilation LP, reissued on cd a few years ago. It's been
remixed and remastered, and packaged in a miniature LP-styled
gatefold sleeve.
If you're familiar with Takayangi's work, you can guess that
this is what he'd term a "Mass Projection" piece, nobody in
the group holding anything back, Takayangi's guitar rumbling
heavily under Mori's flights of sax-skronk, the splattery
drumming of Yamazaki running circles 'round the other two,
everything endlessly tumbling forward, into the abyss of
amplifier abuse spawned by Takayanagi, who simultaneously
offers up scrabbling leads, dissonant drones, and fierce
feedback attack. We suppose the saxophone is the most "jazz"
sounding element, offering some snippets of melody amidst the
blasting cacophony, but even then serving to highlight, in
contrast, the electric violence of Takayanagi's playing. With
so much energy being released, maybe it's no surprise that the
audience couldn't help but give some back!
http://www.aquariusrecords.org
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01-La Grima [41:46]
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41:46 min