CD
Improvised Music from Japan, IMJ-518
Released on July 25, 2004
Purchase price in Japan: 2,000 yen (tax not included)
(For purchase outside of Japan, prices vary.)
Masahiko Okura: tubes (1, 5), alto sax (2-4), bass clarinet (6)
Alto sax player Masahiko Okura has led an astonishingly full and varied musical life, active as a soloist, as leader of the jazz-rock band Gnu, and as a member of the improvisational trio Bject (with Tetuzi Akiyama and Utah Kawasaki), among others. he also collaborates with many other improvisers, including Otomo Yoshihide, Taku Sugimoto, Ami Yoshida, Axel Dörner, Alessandro Bosetti, Werner Dafeldecker, and Günter Müller. Wiith the addition to his repertoire of two more instruments--the bass clarinet and the "tube," a reed instrument of his own invention made from a tube and a mouthpiece--he further enriches his musical vocabulary in this album. After releasing three CDs with Gnu and two with Bject, Time Service is his very first solo album. None of its six tracks contain the slightest trace of Gnu's pop sensibility. This is a highly abstract work that brings out the subtle tones and resonance of the alto sax, bass clarinet, and tube, and illuminates Okura's unique musicianship. A masterpiece.
