Haruna Miyake, Yosuke Yamashita
Exchange
Victor (Japan) 1979
KVX-1054 (LP) w/insert.
sleeve : VG+(some wear on edge and corner, dirts.)
media : EX/EX(some slightly noise.)
A brilliant 1979 collaborative album by two towering figures from very different musical worlds: Yosuke Yamashita, one of Japan’s true masters of free jazz, and contemporary composer Haruna Miyake. This live recording documents a performance from Miyake’s self-produced concert series “Contemporary Music Is Me”, held at Jean-Jean in Shibuya, where she invited Yamashita as a guest. Among the highlights, A1 unfolds around the traditional Japanese folk song “Itsuki no Komoriuta,” with each artist’s solo weaving in and out of the other’s playing. A2 is built on the principle of alternately listening and responding, each performance triggering movement from the other in turn. On B1, the two take Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, “Ode to Joy,” as their theme, freely collaging phrases with sheer instinct and momentum. Though deeply intentional in its improvisational approach, what makes this record so extraordinary is the almost dangerous intensity born from the collision of these two utterly different sensibilities. Also worth special mention is Miyake’s text included in the insert, which is absolutely essential reading.