Kazuo Imai
Encyclopedia
is a Tokyo
-based guitarist
who plays in a rigorous and original free improvisation
idiom. His music joins the rigour and texture of contemporary classical with the passion of free jazz
. He has played with many Western and Japanese improvisers, including Lee Konitz
, Barre Phillips
, Arthur Doyle
, Han Bennink
, Irene Schweizer
, Shuichi Chino, Tetsu Saitoh and Kazue Sawai
. In addition to playing solo and in collaborations, Imai is also a member of the important collective improvisation group Marginal Consort
. As well as guitar, Imai also plays viola da gamba.
and Masayuki Takayanagi
. Imai studied under Kosugi at the Bigakko art school from 1975, and as a graduation project he participated in the East Bionic Symphonia
collective improvisation performance and recording. Kosugi invited Imai to play with his well-known mixed media
group Taj Mahal Travellers
, which he did from 1975 to 1977. Imai also studied under guitar virtuoso Masayuki Takayanagi, and was the only one of Takayanagi's private students to ever graduate. Imai played for several months with Takayanagi's New Directions group in 1976.
Imai withdrew from live performance completely between 1985 and 1991. When he returned it was primarily as a solo performer, at a still ongoing series of self-promoted concerts entitled "Solo Works". From this time he began releasing solo and duo records, and performing with Western musicians who visited Japan, including Lee Konitz, Barre Phillips and Arthur Doyle.
In 1997, Imai was instrumental in reforming East Bionic Symphonia, under the new name of Marginal Consort. The group continue to play one concert each year.
Duos, groups
With other artists
Compilations
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
-based guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
who plays in a rigorous and original free improvisation
Free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....
idiom. His music joins the rigour and texture of contemporary classical with the passion of free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
. He has played with many Western and Japanese improvisers, including Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
, Barre Phillips
Barre Phillips
Barre Phillips is a jazz and free improvisation bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he migrated to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972 he has been based in southern France....
, Arthur Doyle
Arthur Doyle
Arthur Doyle is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, zanzithophonist and vocalist. He currently resides in Birmingham, Alabama.-Arthur Doyle:-Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble:-Recordings as co-leader:...
, Han Bennink
Han Bennink
Han Bennink is a Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured his playing on clarinet, violin, banjo and piano....
, Irene Schweizer
Irène Schweizer
Irène Schweizer is a notable Swiss jazz and free improvising pianist. She was born in Schaffhausen, in 1941.She has performed and recorded numerous solo piano performances as well as performing as part of the Feminist Improvising Group, whose members include Lindsay Cooper, Maggie Nichols, Georgie...
, Shuichi Chino, Tetsu Saitoh and Kazue Sawai
Kazue Sawai
is a Japanese koto player noted for her performance of contemporary classical music and free improvisation.She began studying, at the age of eight, with Michio Miyagi. She later graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music....
. In addition to playing solo and in collaborations, Imai is also a member of the important collective improvisation group Marginal Consort
Marginal Consort
Marginal Consort is a Japanese collective/free improvisation group made of sound and visual artists, who have played one concert annually since 1997. The group originally grew out of the East Bionic Symphonia, who recorded one album in 1976...
. As well as guitar, Imai also plays viola da gamba.
History
Born in Kawasaki in 1955, Imai studied with two of post-war Japan's leading musical iconoclasts, Takehisa KosugiTakehisa Kosugi
is a Japanese composer and violinist associated with the Fluxus movement.Kosugi studied musicology at the Tokyo University of the Arts and graduated in 1962....
and Masayuki Takayanagi
Masayuki Takayanagi
Masayuki 'Jojo' Takayanagi 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 , which recorded several albums throughout the 70s...
. Imai studied under Kosugi at the Bigakko art school from 1975, and as a graduation project he participated in the East Bionic Symphonia
East Bionic Symphonia
East Bionic Symphonia were a group of improvisers and artists who studied together under Takehisa Kosugi at the Bigakko artschool in Tokyo in the mid-1970s. As a graduation project they recorded an album of free improvisation that was edited by Kosugi and released on the ALM label in 1976. Several...
collective improvisation performance and recording. Kosugi invited Imai to play with his well-known mixed media
Mixed media
Mixed media, in visual art, refers to an artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed.There is an important distinction between "mixed-media" artworks and "multimedia art". Mixed media tends to refer to a work of visual art that combines various traditionally distinct...
group Taj Mahal Travellers
Taj Mahal Travellers
The Taj Mahal Travellers were a Japanese experimental music ensemble founded in 1969 by former Group Ongaku leader and Fluxus member Takehisa Kosugi. The rest of the group were several years younger than Kosugi, and were all inspired by the spirit of the day...
, which he did from 1975 to 1977. Imai also studied under guitar virtuoso Masayuki Takayanagi, and was the only one of Takayanagi's private students to ever graduate. Imai played for several months with Takayanagi's New Directions group in 1976.
Imai withdrew from live performance completely between 1985 and 1991. When he returned it was primarily as a solo performer, at a still ongoing series of self-promoted concerts entitled "Solo Works". From this time he began releasing solo and duo records, and performing with Western musicians who visited Japan, including Lee Konitz, Barre Phillips and Arthur Doyle.
In 1997, Imai was instrumental in reforming East Bionic Symphonia, under the new name of Marginal Consort. The group continue to play one concert each year.
Discography
Solo- How Will We Change? Solo Improvised Works (PSF, 1995)
- Far and Wee (PSF, 2004)
Duos, groups
- East Bionic Symphonia (ALM, 1976)
- Marginal Consort: Collective Improvisation (PSF, 1998)
- Play 'em as They Fall, w/ Barre Phillips (Station Kids, 1999)
- Across the Desert, w/ Han Bennink (Improvised Music from Japan, 2003)
- 001111, w/ Shuichi Chino (PSF, 2004)
- Une Chance pour l'Ombre, w/Kazue Sawai, Michel Doneda, Le Quan Ninh, Tetsu Saitoh (Victo, 2004)
- Orbit 1, w/ Tetsu Saitoh & Michel Doneda (Travessia, 2006)
- Marginal Consort, w/ Marginal Consort (Improvised Music From Japan, 2007)
With other artists
- Lee Konitz, Unaccompanied Live in Yokohama (PSF, 1997)
- Otomo Yoshihide, Yoshihide Otomo Plays the Music of Takeo Yamashita (P-Vine, 1999)
- Yuji Itsumi, Chi no kioku video (PSF, 2003)
Compilations
- Deluxe Improvisation Series, Vol. 1: 2000 (ASE, 2001)
- Deluxe Improvisation Series, Vol. 2: 2001 Part 1 (ASE, 2001)
- Improvised Music from Japan Presents Improvised Music from Japan 10cd set (IMFJ, 2001)
- Deluxe Improvisation Festival 2001: Day Two (ASE, 2002)
- Festival Beyond Innocence: A Brief History in 67 Chapters 4CD set (FBI, 2003)
- Free Will (PSF, 2003)
- Undecided: JMSA Presents Wave from Free Music (PSF, 2004)
- PSF & Alchemy: 20th Anniversary Live (PSF, 2005)