ELVIN JONES | MASABUMI KIKUCHI — Hollow Out (1973-2015) Serie We Remember Poo | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1    Apple    10:28
Composed By – Masabumi Kikuchi
2    Ginkai    8:31
Composed By – Masabumi Kikuchi
3    Little Abi    6:06
Composed By – Masabumi Kikuchi
4    Bell    4:25
Composed By – Masabumi Kikuchi
5    Hollow Out    5:47
Composed By – Masabumi Kikuchi
Credits :
Bass – Gene Perla
Drums – Elvin Jones
Piano – Masabumi Kikuchi
Recorded By – Rudy Van Gelder

GIL EVANS – Live at the Public Theater New York 1980 Vol. I (1980-1994) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

One of arranger Gil Evans's main talents was his ability to fuse diverse, unique performers into a unified ensemble. He accomplishes that on the first of two LPs taken from a pair of 1980 concerts, even if his presence is felt more than heard. Although Evans is on electric piano, he also employed two other synthesizer players (Masabumi Kikuchi and Pete Levin) in his eclectic band, which at the time included such notables as Lew Soloff, Jon Faddis and Hannibal Marvin Peterson on trumpets, altoist Arthur Blythe, trombonist George Lewis, baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett and drummer Billy Cobham, among others. A lengthy "Anita's Dance" and a remake of "Gone, Gone, Gone" are the more memorable selections. Scott Yanow    Tracklist + Credits :

MASABUMI KIKUCHI TRIO - Sunrise (2012) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Though he is hardly a household name, Japanese pianist Masabumi "Poo" Kikuchi has played, recorded, and toured with dozens of musicians since his career began in the early 1960s. He is well-known to ardent jazz fans as a member of Tethered Moon, the decades-old trio that featured him alongside the late drummer Paul Motian and double bassist Gary Peacock, and Motian's Trio 2000. Kikuchi is rightly regarded as a unique and even iconoclastic stylist. Sunrise is his ECM debut. It's also the last studio session Motian played on. It's a collectively improvised trio album recorded in 2009 with Motian and double bassist Thomas Morgan. Most of these ten tunes are mid-length, four, to just-under-seven minutes, with one over and one brief interlude at two. This is a quietly astonishing recording, because it is, essentially, a freely improvised rubato suite based on the ballad -- pillared at beginning, middle, and end (with selections that have the word "Ballad" in their titles). It showcases an approach to the form that is mysterious, intuitive, and purposely unsystematic. Key changes and slight tempo variations occur suddenly, and then vanish as if their appeal has been exhausted, only to return at a later time -- or not. Kikuchi's touch reveals no hesitation in his ideas. His harmonic statements are instinctive, canny, sometimes spare, sometimes subtly dissonant, but always compelling; they never force their way. Motian's unshakeable and melodic sense of time is present at each moment, seemingly anticipating the many shifts, and Morgan's bass playing shimmers rather than pulses. It asserts pointillist moments in shapes and shades in accordance with the pianist's impeccable sense of direction and his centering presence. Singling out an individual tune is futile since all of this music is of a piece, full of subtlety and elegance, but nearly radical in its lyric invention and rhythmic flow. Sunrise is, like its title, a gradually unfolding, poetic stunner.
|This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa'|
Tracklist :
1    Ballad 1 5'38
(Thomas Morgan, Paul Motian, Masabumi Kikuchi)
2    New Day 4'46
(Masabumi Kikuchi, Thomas Morgan, Paul Motian)
3    Short Stuff 2'11
(Thomas Morgan, Masabumi Kikuchi, Paul Motian)
4    So What Variations 5'27
(Thomas Morgan, Paul Motian, Masabumi Kikuchi)
5    Ballad 2 7'13
(Masabumi Kikuchi, Thomas Morgan, Paul Motian)
6    Sunrise 5'48
(Thomas Morgan, Paul Motian, Masabumi Kikuchi)
7    Sticks And Cymbals 6'17
(Paul Motian, Thomas Morgan, Masabumi Kikuchi)
8    End Of Day 4'47
(Paul Motian, Thomas Morgan, Masabumi Kikuchi)
9    Uptempo 4'05
(Masabumi Kikuchi, Paul Motian, Thomas Morgan)
10    Last Ballad 5'22
(Paul Motian, Masabumi Kikuchi, Thomas Morgan)
Credits :
Masabumi Kikuchi   Piano
Thomas Morgan   Double-Bass
Paul Motian   Drums