TAKEHIRO HONDA – Salaam Salaam (LP-1974)

Label: East Wind – EW-7005

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Japan / Released: 1974

Style: Hard Bop, Contemporary Jazz, Free Jazz

Recorded June 16, 1974 at Victor Stuudio, Tokyo

Art Direction – Johsuke Kubo

Design [Album] – Mitsuo Hosokawa

Engineer [Record, Re-mix] – Toshio Kobayashi

Photography By [Cover] – Hiroshi Satoh

Photography By [Liner] – Toshinari Koinuma, Yukio Ichikawa

Producer – Toshinari Koinuma

A1 - Minors Only . . . . 13:25

A2 - Natural Tranquility . . . . 10:29

B  -  Salaam Salaam . . . . 18:28

Takehiro Honda – piano, composed

Juni Booth – bass

Eric Gravatt – drums, percussion

Takehiro Honda's most complex and challenging LP, Salaam Salaam pairs the pianist with bassist Junie Booth and drummer Eric Gravatt to explore the kind of creative reaches typically reserved for larger ensembles. If anything, the record is that much more remarkable for achieving its epic scope from so few core elements. Honda's adherence to austerity contrasts sharply with the bold, multi-dimensional sensibilities that signify the vast majority of post-Coltrane excursions into spiritual expression, yet the sheer soulfulness and abandon of his performance nevertheless vaults Salaam Salaam into the same physical and metaphysical planes. No less vital is the record's unusual warmth and tonal purity, which further underscore the humanity at the root of even its most abstract expressions.
_ Review by Jason ANKENY



If you find it, buy this album!