The free jazz concert of the year – something unprecedented for the timid and almost virginal for this music Sofia (*of Akira Sakata & Entasis in the midst of the summer that has already passed) – inspired the team of "Alarm Punk Jazz" in October to invite another of the pioneers of Japanese avant-garde jazz (from the 60s, even from the end of the 50s, to today!), namely - pianist, composer and genius improviser Masahiko Sato, who at the end of turns 83 next week.
Masahiko Sato (b.1941, Sumida Ward, Tokyo) entered the professional scene as a pianist at the age of 17, "accompanying dancers, illusionists and strippers in the Ginza area," as John Scofield (not the guitarist, but the writer – with one more "h" in the name) in 1991. In 1959 he was already part of drummer George Kawaguchi's group (along with saxophonists Sadao Watanebe and Akira Miyazawa). Graduated from Keio University and in the 60s he went to "Berkeley College". At the end of the 60s, he returned to Japan and recorded his first author's album – Palladium (1969), along with another Japanese jazz legend – drummer Masahiko Togashi (1940-2007). The very next year, his Astrorama album was released, in which the leaders of the quintet are himself and… Jean-Luc Ponty. A little later, he also played the piano parts on Anthony Braxton's legendary album Four Compositions (1973).
The next two decades were extremely fruitful for him – wrote the music for the psychedelic-erotic anime classic Belladonna Of Sadness (1973), recorded several albums in a trio with Eddie Gomez and Steve Gad (including featuring Michael Brecker), arranged music for Helen Merrill, Kimiko Ito, Nancy Wilson, Art Farmer ; releases a duo album with another iconic Japanese pianist of the same generation – Yosuke Yamashita; created the band Randooga, where guest musicians were Wayne Shorter, Alex Acuña and Nana Vasconcelos.
In the new millennium, on stage and in the studio, his partners are some of the most established free improvisers of our time – Joel Leander, Peter Brötzmann, Ned Rotenberg, Paal Nielsen-Löv, Kang Tae Huang, Akira Sakata, Ken Vandermark, Otomo Yoshihide... During all this time, he did not stop recording solo albums, and there were also several landmark recordings (mainly through 90s) with musicians such as Vladimir Tarasov, Gary Peacock and Carlo Actis Dato.
He also writes new music for traditional instruments such as shakuhachi and satsuma-biwa. His persona is also a prototype of one of the characters of the story Hey, It's a Love Psychedelic! of science fiction author Izumi Suzuki (1949-1986).
Sato-san's stage partner at the October 23rd concert will be "our man" in Brussels – the avant-garde jazz guitarist Yotis Damianidis, born exactly 4 decades after the maestro (in 1981), also responsible for the creation of the group Entasis with Akira Sakata.
He also visited us with his quartet with Petros Damianidis, Alexander Shkorich and John Dykman. He played in the formations Punk Kong, Dark Ballads, Don Kapot and The Miracle, and in the last decade for several years he was the right hand of a close associate of Fela Kuti and Tony Allen – Afrobeat legend Ogene Kologbo.
The two met for the first time in Chiba, Japan, in February of this year and after their concert together decided to do this short impact tour in Europe in October, which includes only four countries – Belgium, Germany, Greece and Bulgaria (within Sato-san's one-week visit to Europe).
The doors of the "Singles" Hall at the NDK on October 23 (Wednesday) opens at 9:00 p.m. The concert will start precisely at 9:30 p.m., and from 7:00 p.m. on the terrace in front of the club as part of the series of Daydreaming Records & Books will sound Japanese avant-garde jazz from the past six decades – selection of "Alarm" from rare recordings by Akira Sakata, Kazutoki Umezu, Satoshi Takeishi, Masahiko Togashi, Yosuke Yamashita, Satoko Fujii, Tatsuya Yoshida and more. Two of the attendees will have the opportunity to win a ticket to the next concert of "Alarma" – namely, that of the Mongolian-French-Bulgarian trio Violons Barbares the very next day (October 24) at the same time and place.
Rositsa MIHOVA, BNR