三本会：青木静夫・山本邦山・横山勝也
現代尺八楽 - 三本のひびき
Toshiba Records (Japan) 1970
TH-9063 (LP) Gatefold sleeve, Blue label
sleeve : VG(a lot of stains and spots.)
media : EX/EX-(A: slight noise, A1: one very thin and small scratch that does not affect the playback sound, B: some light noise.)
Shizuo Aoki, Hozan Yamamoto and Katsuya Yokoyama are three leading contemporary shakuhachi players who, although each inheriting a traditional school, have greatly developed Japanese traditional music through their genre-bending compositions and performances, and have gained worldwide acclaim.
This album was released in 1970 under the supervision of Fumio Koizumi, who is known for his research into world folk music, and contains one piece each by Masao Matsumoto and Toshio Funakawa on the A-side, and one piece each by Aoki, Yamamoto and Yokoyama on the B-side.
The album opens with a fantastic first chapter, followed by a rhythmical ensemble in the second chapter, a third chapter in which each player plays solo while repeatedly modulating, and a fourth chapter which thematically returns to the phrase from the first chapter.
The whole piece is too good to be true. On A3, composed by Kuniyama Yamamoto, we can hear the unique melody of Kuniyama, reminiscent of his later live sessions with jazzmen, "Bamboo Suite".
A1: