Motoharu Yoshizawa
Encyclopedia
Motoharu Yoshizawa (1931 - September 12, 1998) was an influential Japanese bassist known for playing in a distinctive free jazz
and free improvisation
style, sometimes deploying electronics and using the unusual self-designed five-string bass he referred to as the "Tiritack".
Yoshizawa collaborated with innumerable musicians over his long career; some of the better known include Masayuki Takayanagi
, Masahiko Togashi, Takehisa Kosugi
, Mototeru Takagi
, Kaoru Abe
, Steve Lacy
, Dave Burrell
, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker
, Barre Phillips
, Butch Morris
, Elliott Sharp
, Ikue Mori
, Keiji Haino
, Kan Mikami
, Kazuki Tomokawa
, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel
& Tenko
.
and Kazunori Takeda, as well as in a famous jam session with Elvin Jones
during John Coltrane
's Japan tour of 1966. Yoshizawa's own trio with Mototeru Takagi
was said to have been pivotal for Japanese free jazz, though no recordings survive. In 1969, Yoshizawa played with Masahiko Togashi's famous quartet and Masayuki Takayanagi
's New Directions group, participating in both groups' landmark recording sessions of that year.
Yoshizawa was a pioneer of solo bass performance, his experiments synchronous with those of Barre Phillips
. He first played this style in 1969, though nothing was recorded until several years later. In the mid-1970s, Yoshizawa recorded three albums for solo bass. Later in the decade he had a fruitful collaboration with alto saxophonist Kaoru Abe
, which led to the recording of one album, Nord.
In the 1990s, Yoshizawa began experimenting with an effects-laden, five-string bass of his own design. He spent six months living and playing in New York in 1989-90.
Duos, Trios, Quartets.
Guest Appearances
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...
and 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....
style, sometimes deploying electronics and using the unusual self-designed five-string bass he referred to as the "Tiritack".
Yoshizawa collaborated with innumerable musicians over his long career; some of the better known include 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...
, Masahiko Togashi, Takehisa Kosugi
Takehisa 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....
, Mototeru Takagi
Mototeru Takagi
Mototeru Takagi was a Japanese tenor saxophone player, known for playing in a distinctive and powerful free jazz style...
, Kaoru Abe
Kaoru Abe
was an influential Japanese avant-garde alto saxophonist, who is often regarded as having the greatest abrasive saxophone sound.He generally performed solo. He was married to the author Izumi Suzuki, and a cousin to singer Kyu Sakamoto. He died of a drug overdose at the age of 29.-References:* Yuko...
, Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York City, was a jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone....
, Dave Burrell
Dave Burrell
Davis Burrell is an American jazz instrumentalist, most notably on the piano. He has worked for many jazz musicians including Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Marion Brown and David Murray.- Biography :...
, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
, 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....
, Butch Morris
Butch Morris
Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris is an American jazz cornetist, composer and conductor.-Biography:Before his musical career, Morris served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War....
, Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer.A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock,...
, Ikue Mori
Ikue Mori
, also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, composer, and graphic designer.-Biography:Ikue Mori was born and raised in Japan. She says she had little interest in music before hearing punk rock...
, Keiji Haino
Keiji Haino
Keiji Haino born May 3, 1952 in Chiba, Japan, and currently residing in Tokyo, is a Japanese musician whose work has included rock, free improvisation, noise, singer-songwriter, solo percussion, psychedelic, minimalism and drone styles...
, Kan Mikami
Kan Mikami
is a Japanese folk singer-songwriter. His music, heavily influenced by American blues, was popular in Japan in the 1970s. He re-wrote the lyric of the song "Yume wa Yoru Hiraku" for his cover version in 1972...
, Kazuki Tomokawa
Kazuki Tomokawa
Tenji Nozoki , best known by the stage name Kazuki Tomokawa , is a prolific Japanese musician, active in the Japanese music scene since the early seventies. He is often described as a "screaming philosopher" due to his idiosyncratic singing style...
, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel
Christopher Yohmei Blasdel
Christopher Yohmei Blasdel is a shakuhachi performer, researcher and writer specializing in the music of Japan and Asia. In 1972, while on foreign study in Tokyo, he was introduced to the Kinko Style shakuhachi master Goro Yamaguchi, whom he studied with until Yamaguchi’s death in 1999...
& Tenko
Tenko
Tenko may refer to:*Tenko , a BBC television drama*Princess Tenko, a Japanese magician, upon whom the cartoon Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic was based...
.
History
Yoshizawa began playing in a free style in the mid-1960s, in groups with Yosuke YamashitaYosuke Yamashita
Yōsuke Yamashita is an acclaimed jazz pianist, composer, essayist, and writer from Tokyo, Japan.He is praised by critics for his unique piano style...
and Kazunori Takeda, as well as in a famous jam session with Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
during John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
's Japan tour of 1966. Yoshizawa's own trio with Mototeru Takagi
Mototeru Takagi
Mototeru Takagi was a Japanese tenor saxophone player, known for playing in a distinctive and powerful free jazz style...
was said to have been pivotal for Japanese free jazz, though no recordings survive. In 1969, Yoshizawa played with Masahiko Togashi's famous quartet 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...
's New Directions group, participating in both groups' landmark recording sessions of that year.
Yoshizawa was a pioneer of solo bass performance, his experiments synchronous with those of 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....
. He first played this style in 1969, though nothing was recorded until several years later. In the mid-1970s, Yoshizawa recorded three albums for solo bass. Later in the decade he had a fruitful collaboration with alto saxophonist Kaoru Abe
Kaoru Abe
was an influential Japanese avant-garde alto saxophonist, who is often regarded as having the greatest abrasive saxophone sound.He generally performed solo. He was married to the author Izumi Suzuki, and a cousin to singer Kyu Sakamoto. He died of a drug overdose at the age of 29.-References:* Yuko...
, which led to the recording of one album, Nord.
In the 1990s, Yoshizawa began experimenting with an effects-laden, five-string bass of his own design. He spent six months living and playing in New York in 1989-90.
Discography
Solo- V.A., Inspiration and Power 14 (Trio, 1973; CD reissue, PJL, 2003)
- Inland Fish (Trio, 1974; CD reissue, PJL, 2003)
- The Cracked Mirror and the Fossil Bird (Kojima, 1975; CD reissue, PSF, 1994)
- Outfit - Bass solo II (Trio, 1976; CD reissue, PJL, 2004)
- From the faraway nearby (PSF, 1992)
- Empty Hats (PSF, 1994)
- Play unlimited (PSF, 1997)
- V.A., Halana #3 magazine/CD (Halana, 1997)
- V.A., Halana #4 magazine/CD (Halana, 1998)
- It's a day - Last bass solo live video (Pelmage Records, 1999)
Duos, Trios, Quartets.
- We now create, Masahiko Togashi Quartet (Victor, 1969; CD reissue, Bridge, 2006)
- Independence, Masayuki Takayanagi and New Directions (Teichiku,1969)
- Call in Question, Masayuki Takayanagi & New Directions (PSF, 1993; recorded 1970)
- Live Independence, Masayuki Takayanagi & New Directions (PSF, 1994; recorded 1970)
- Dreams, w/ Dave Burrell (Trio, 1974; CD reissue, PJL, 2003)
- Duo and Trio Improvisation, w/ Derek Bailey et al. (Polydor, 1978; CD reissue, Disk Union, 1992)
- Aida's Call, w/Derek Bailey, Kaoru Abe & Toshinori Kondo (Starlight Furniture Company, recorded 1978)
- OOPS, w/ Takao Haga (T.H.I.S., 1980)
- Kita (Nord), w/ Kaoru Abe (ALM, 1981)
- Kozan, w/ Hirokazu Yamada & Mototeru Takagi (Tiara, 1986)
- Live in the First Year of Heisei Vol.1, w/ Keiji Haino & Kan Mikami (PSF, 1990)
- Live in the First Year of Heisei Vol.2, w/ Keiji Haino & Kan Mikami (PSF, 1990)
- Gobbledygook NY Live, w/ Ikue Mori, Butch Morris, Elliott Sharp (PSF,1990)
- Angels have passed, w/ Takehisa Kosugi & Haruna Miyake (PSF, 1992)
- Deep Sea/Abyss, w/ Mototeru Takagi (PSF, 1993)
- Uzu, w/ Barre Phillips (PSF, 1996)
- Company in Japan video, w/ Shonosuke Okura, Koichi Makigami, Sachiko Nagata, Kenichi Takeda, Wataru Okuma, Kazue Sawai, Derek Bailey, Yukihiro Isso & Keizo Inoue (Incus, 1996)
- Welcome - Motoharu Yoshizawa Last Live, w/ Gyaatees (Captain Trip, 1999)
- Okidoki, w/ Barre Phillips & Kim Dae Hwan (Chap Chap Records, 1999)
- Domo Arigato Derek Sensei, w/ Henry Kaiser et al. (Balance Point Acoustics, 2006)
Guest Appearances
- Steve Lacy, Stalks (Nippon Columbia, 1975)
- Steve Lacy, The Wire (Nippon Columbia, 1977)
- Christopher Yohmei BlasdelChristopher Yohmei BlasdelChristopher Yohmei Blasdel is a shakuhachi performer, researcher and writer specializing in the music of Japan and Asia. In 1972, while on foreign study in Tokyo, he was introduced to the Kinko Style shakuhachi master Goro Yamaguchi, whom he studied with until Yamaguchi’s death in 1999...
, Voices from Afar, Voices from Within (Teichiku, 1990) - Tenko, At the top of Mt. Brocken (RecRecRecRec MusicRecRec Music was a Swiss independent record label created in 1983 by Daniel Waldner. The label was modeled on, and affiliated to, the British independent record label Recommended Records, but remained financially independent...
, 1993) - Kan Mikami, Kazuki Tomokawa et al., Goen (PSF, 1993)
- Kazuki Tomokawa, Playing with Phantoms (PSF, 1993)
- Kazuki Tomokawa, Hitori Bon-odori (PSF, 1994)
- Kikuchi Masaaki, Bass sonority (Bass workshop vol.1) (Soup disk, 1995)
- Lawrence D. Butch Morris, Testament : A Conduction Collection (New World, 1996)
- Evan Parker, Synergetics - Phonomanie III (Leo, 1996)
- Company, Epiphany by Company (Incus, 2001)