MASAHIKO TOGASHI QUARTET – Sketch (Denon ‎– YX-7516-ND / LP-1977)

Label: Denon Jazz ‎– YX-7516-ND
Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: Japan / Released: Nov 1977
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation 
Recorded at Nippon Columbia's 1st Studio, Tokyo, June 7, 8 & 9, 1977.
Design [Cover Design] – Masahiko Togashi
Photography By [Cover Photo] – Masahiko Togashi
Engineer – Masao Hayashi
Producer [Recording Direction] – Tsutomu Ueno, Yoshiharu Kawaguchi
Composed By – Masahiko Togashi
Matrix / Runout (Side A, etched): - YX-7516-ND – A
Matrix / Runout (Side B, etched): - YX-7516-ND – B

side 1:
A1 - Sketch 3 ............................................................................................................ 10:02
A2 - Sketch 4 .............................................................................................................. 6:43

side 2:
B1 - Sketch 2 .............................................................................................................. 7:01
B2 - Sketch 1 ............................................................................................................ 10:54

Personnel:
Masahiko Togashi – percussion
Masami Nakagawa – alto saxophone, flute, percussion
Takashi Kako – piano, percussion
Keiki Midorikawa – bass, cello, percussion

I picked up "Sketch" (LP-1977) a rarity - it happens to be considered one of the three very important free-jazz LP's (avant, creative music, regardless...) in the country's (Japan) musical index on Quartet. Otherwise, Togashi seems a prolific composer, with this album being one of the best, if still a non notable one, or an all-over-the-place collaborator, with the Quartet as a particular condition. Quartet itself isn't really a designative term, since on all three such albums - this one, and two earlier "Speed & Space" from 1969 and also from 1969 "We Now Create" - the only constant presence is Togashi himself.

Not sure if the album, based on its title, is supposed to be a work-in-progress, with no final character whatsoever, or driven by some kind of desire to give shape to things at some point while performing. Togashi tends to overwhelm his fellow musicians and make it even more percussion-centric than expected, but here he queues, or builds up, significantly. Variations features a mixture of warm, reverberating, but isolated chords and pizzicato serialism at the alto sax and flute (I do recognize Masami Nakagawa, having listened to some of his albums). "Sketch" is the folkloric-inspired, rubato and boldly improvised - sounds amazing. "Sketch" is a fantasy for strings, flute, piano and percussion, airy and fragmented, alludes more to modern classical. Album "Sketch" is as traditionally conceived, even with Togashi forcing his bassist (Keiki Midorikawa) to remain in ostinato throughout his long improvisations, only to get himself moved in his own expressions later on. These are pretty serious and evolved free jazz compositions,  worth listening to after some unstable strident acts.

(Review by M. D)

If you find it, buy this album!