Masahiko Togashi
Spiritual Nature
East Wind (Japan) 1975
EW-8013 (LP) Original pressing. w/insert.
sleeve : EX-(SOC, some light dirts)
media : EX+/EX+(some slightly noise)
Despite a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down, the great Japanese drummer/percussionist Masahiko Togashi continued his musical career by developing a unique playing style. This album, released in 1975, features recordings from a live concert held that year at the Tokyo Kosei Nenkin Kaikan. It includes edited portions of the performance by a total of ten jazz musicians, including Sadao Watanabe, Shigeo Suzuki, Shozo Nakagawa, and Masahiko Sato, delivering earthy free improvisation. The album showcases Togashi's organic spirituality, which he learned from his encounter with Don Cherry, expressing the unity of human and nature through the gestures of life. This is a classic of Japanese ethnic jazz, evoking an atmosphere as if Don Cherry himself were on stage.
A1: The Beginning
B1: Spiritual Nature