WEATHER REPORT – Weather Report Live In Tokyo (SX68Sound / 2LP-1972)

Label: CBS/Sony – SOPJ 12~13-XR
Series: SX68Sound
CBS・ソニーレコード株式会社
CBS/SONY Records Inc. ‹Tokyo Japan›
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Japan / Released: May 1, 1972
Style: Fusion, Jazz-Rock, Free Improvisation
Recorded Live at "Shibuya Kokaido Hall", Tokyo, Japan, January 13, 1972.
Design – Eiko Ishioka, Yoshio Nakanishi
Photography By – Tadayuki Naitoh
Engineer – Susumu Satoh
Producer – Kiyoshi Itoh
All selections published by Barometer Music (BMI) except "Doctor Honoris Causa" published by Zawinul Music (BMI)
Other (Cat# Disc 1): SOPJ-12-XR
Other (Cat# Disc 2): SOPJ-13-XR
Matrix / Runout (Side A, runout, etched): SOPJ-12A3 1 A 4
Matrix / Runout (Side B, runout, etched): SOPJ-12B1 1 B 1
Matrix / Runout (Side C, runout, etched): SOPJ-13A3 1 A 5
Matrix / Runout (Side D, runout, etched): SOPJ-13B1 1 A 13

side 1
A - Medley: Vertical Invader - Seventh Arrow - T. H. - Doctor Honoris Causa ........... 26:12
side 2
B - Medley: Surucucu - Lost - Early Minor - Direction ............................................... 19:08

side 3
C - Orange Lady ........................................................................................................ 18:10
side 4
D1 - Medley: Eurydice - The Moors ........................................................................... 13:42
D2 - Medley: Tears - Umbrellas ................................................................................. 10:26

Personnel:
JOE ZAWINUL / piano, electric piano
WAYNE SHORTER / soprano saxophone & tenor saxophone
MIROSLAV VITOUS / double bass, electric bass
ERIC GRAVATT / drums, percussion
DOM UM ROMAO / percussion

Very Rare Vinyl:
WEATHER REPORT Live In Tokyo (1972 / Original Japanese CBS Sony label 'SX68 Sound' issue 5-track double vinyl LP featuring the fushion outfit's first Live album, recorded at one of the five sold out concerts at the Shibuya Kokaido Philharmonic Hall in Tokyo. Comes with the Japanese sleevenotes printed insert plus the 'SX68' top obi-strip / SOPJ-12~13XR)

The only live release from the first era of WR, the Vitous-era, the one I consider the most essential and certainly the most adventuresome. Man, this is experimental with little in the way of melody, but with a lot of jazz. Brilliant..!!!...

On January 4, 1972, Weather Report launched its first tour of Japan with a concert at Shibuya Public Hall in Tokyo. It was the one of eight performances on the tour, five of which took place in Tokyo. The last of those concerts (January 13th) was recorded and released in Japan as the double-LP Live in Tokyo, parts of which also comprise the second side of I Sing the Body Electric, released later in the year.

Weather Report’s appearances were much anticipated by Japanese jazz fans. The group’s first album received several awards from Swing Journal (Japan’s leading jazz magazine), and CBS Sony rolled out the red carpet upon the band’s arrival at the airport, presenting each member with flowers and a limousine. At a press conference held the day of the first concert, the musicians were also given traditional Japanese umbrellas made of bamboo and oil paper—a nod to the band’s name.

Of course, one of the things the press wanted to know about was the band’s rather odd name. Wayne responded that it related to the their sound, which he said had no boundaries. Weather Report “can mean anything you want it to mean,” he said. “It’s sort of in neutral territory. It stretches and reaches into the imagination of the universe. It’s as boundless as the kind of music we play. It has a flow in the sound and it opens the doors for things to come. It’s not cramped.”

Without question the band was inspired by the first-rate music halls and large, respectful audiences for which they performed. “When we went to Japan,” Zawinul recalled, “we didn’t know what kind of a response we would get, but I couldn’t believe what happened. We thought, ‘What are we gonna do with these Japanese people, man?’ They’re so beautiful, such wonderful listeners, but laid back. That was their culture. So we said, ‘Let’s hit ’em hard, right from the first note,’ and we hit ’em hard.” Joe later told future Weather Report band members that their gig in Sapporo was the best one the band ever played.

In some sense jazz performances are always a bit of a ritual, but this seems like an immersive experience. A friend called this album “savage” Weather Report. And I always liked what Joe said later, “Let’s hit ’em hard, right from the first note.” Indeed, they did.

This double vinyl, Japanese import, contains frenetic performance of the group from that concert -- and as such, it is a revelation. Now we can follow the wild, stream-of-consciousness evolution of early Weather Report workouts, taking the listener into all kinds of stylistic territory -- from Joe Zawinul's lone acoustic piano to dissonant free form and electronic explosions -- with lots of adjustments of tempo and texture. The pulse of jazz is more evident in their work here than on their American albums, and the example of Miles Davis circa the Fillmore concerts directs the fierce interplay. In his subsequent recordings with Weather Report, and as a leader, Wayne Shorter would rarely equal the manic intensity he displayed in Tokyo. All of the music is encapsulated in five lengthy "medleys" of WR's repertoire, three of which contain elongated versions of themes from the group's eponymously titled debut album from 1971. This would be the radical apogee of Weather Report on live records.
A masterpiece, surely Weather Report's best album ever.

Note:
All in all, it was a far cry from the club scene where most of Weather Report’s early U.S. appearances took place. There’s more about this tour in book "Elegant People: A History of the Band Weather Report" (Curt Bianchi), which I recommend in a friendly way.

If you find it, buy this album!

KONSTRUkT with PETER BRÖTZMANN – Eklisia Sunday (reissue LP-2016)

Label: Holidays Records – HOL-095
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition / Country: Italy / Released: Jul 2016
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded at Eklisia, Gümüşlük, Bodrum on the 15th of May, 2011.
Feat. Hüseyin Ertunç, Doğan Doğusel, Barlas Tan Özemek
Limited Edition of 350 copies
Artwork – Canedicoda
Mastered By – Rafal Drewniany
Recorded By – Barlas Tan Özemek, Umut Çağlar
Contact Info: Via Tolmezzo 12/4, 20132 Milano, Italia
Matrix / Runout (Side 1 runout, etched): HOL-095 A K PB
Matrix / Runout (Side 2 runout, etched): HOL-095 B K PB

side 1
A1  -  I, II ................................................................................................................... 14:13
A2  -  III ....................................................................................................................... 9:12

side 2
B1  -  IV .................................................................................................................... 12:35
B2  -  V ....................................................................................................................... 9:41

Personnel:
Peter Brötzmann / tenor & alto saxophones, clarinet
Korhan Futaci / tenor & soprano saxophones
Hüseyin Ertunç / acoustic piano, küstüfon, gong
Barlas Tan Özemek / electric guitar
Umut Çağlar / electric guitar
Doğan Doğusel / double bass, küstüfon
Özün Usta / double bass, djembe, gong, bells 

Korhan Argüden / drums, old k zildjian cymbals

Free jazz outfit KonstruKt might be considered the most evolved improvisational band working in jazz today. They were founded in Istanbul, not in the hotbeds of jazz, London, New York, Chicago, Wuppertal, or Krakow, their isolation is the key to their success. Although this band was formed in 2008, their free jazz ears date back to the 1960s. The band has absorbed the lessons of John Coltrane's Interstellar Space (Impulse!, 1967), Peter Brötzmann's Machine Gun (FMP, 1968), and more recent works by Ivo Perelman, William Parker, and Joe McPhee.

Eklisia Sunday was recorded live in front of a small audience on May 15th, 2011 at Eklisia - an old chapel built in the 17th century in Gümüşlük, a small village near Bodrum. This improvisation features the KonstruKt collective with Peter Brötzmann, their guest from a 2008 recording Dolunay (re:konstruKt, 2010). The quartet's basic lineup of Korhan Futaci (saxophone), Umut Çağlar (electric guitar), Özün Usta (bass), and Korhan Argüden (drums) is augmented here by an additional bassist, guitar, piano, and saxophone.

This large-ish ensemble, to KonstruKt's credit, makes much more than noisy energy jazz. The music is presented in four lengthy parts, each with a nuggets (maybe blocks) of artful music making. The LP opens with a saxophone (it's Futaci) wandering among his quartet before Usta's djembe drum sets the pulse. While the large ensemble slowly joins in, the structure of the piece remains. A coherent groove and consistent energy is sustained, as the piece burns itself into exhaustion, some gentle guitar notes are played over delicate reed work. This recording is divided into five parts is a nomadic opus. The piece sustains a shamanistic energy through percussion, bells, double electric guitars, and ever-spiraling- upward saxophones. The rhapsodic vibe throughout organizes and highlights this excellent date. Peter Brötzmann is in top form...    I recommend...!

(Review by M. C.)

If you find it, buy this album!

KONSTRUkT and AKIRA SAKATA – Kaishi / 開始: Live At Kargart (2LP-2015)

Label: Holidays Records – HOL 085
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition, Gatefold / Country: Italy / Released: Jul 1, 2015
Style: Free Jazz, Space-Age, Free Improvisation
Recorded live at Kargart, Istanbul, Turkey / January 17th, 2015.
Edition of 200 copies
Illustration [Cover Drawing] – Canedicoda
Lacquer Cut By – Alessandro Di Guglielmo at Elettroformati, Milano
Recorded By – Rammy Roo
Mixed By, Mastered By – Korhan Futacı
All music improvised by KonstruKt and Akira Sakata
Contact Info: Via Tolmezzo 12/4, 20132 Milano, Italia
Matrix / Runout (Side 1 runout, etched): HOL-085 A K AS
Matrix / Runout (Side 2 runout, etched): HOL-085 B K AS
Matrix / Runout (Side 3 runout, etched): HOL-085 C K AS
Matrix / Runout (Side 4 runout, etched): HOL-085 D K AS

side 1
A  -  Part I .................................................................................................................. 18:12
side 2
B  -  Part II ................................................................................................................. 18:29

side 3
C  -  Part III ............................................................................................................... 16:37
side 4
D  -  Part IV ............................................................................................................... 16:34

Line-up/Musicians:
Akira Sakata / alto saxophone, clarinet, voice
Korhan Futacı / tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, flute, loops [instant loops]
Umut Çağlar / el. guitar, violin, reeds [zurna, gralla], kalimba, percussion, tape echo
Özün Usta / double bass 

Korhan Argüden / drums, cymbal [old K zildjian cymbals]

Another chapter in the ongoing series of live recordings of the quartet KonstruKt. Islington Mill in Salford, Greater Manchester, is a hotbed of musical insurgency and invention. Resident analogue-synth expert Sam Weaver (who is an auxiliary member of psychedelic/exploratory rock/electronic group Gnod) is curating the Samarbeta music residency at the huge repurposed building in the summer of 2015. As part of this project, he has invited the blazing Turkish free jazz unit KonstruKt, over from Istanbul to stay at the Mill. Their visit culminates in two performances on 12 August 2015. There are also Bristol and London live dates planned. To give you a taste how brilliant those performances were, here is KonstruKt in action on home turf, earlier that year, playing with veteran Japanese free-jazz, a key figure of the Japanese Free Jazz movement since the 1970s saxophonist and marine biologist, Akira Sakata.

Konstrukt are a group dedicated to improvising not only within themselves, but with outside guests. Following records with Joe McPhee and Peter Brötzmann, Akira Sakata to join them Live at Kargart in Istanbul on January 17th 2015, where they played continuously for 70 minutes, improvising around psychedelic themes. This jam is one of the most psychedelic act of the band so far, with Sakata's growling shomyo-alike chant finding the perfect setting - like a snake charmer - in a jungle of constantly reinvented sound.

Double LP on Holidays Records.

If you find it, buy this album!

KONSTRUkT & ALEXANDER HAWKINS – Live At Cafe Oto (2LP-2017)

Label: Holidays Records – HOL-103
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition / Country: Italy / Released: Mar 10, 2017
Style: Avant-garde Jazz, Free improvisation, Free Jazz
Recorded on August 10th 2015 at Cafe Oto / London, UK
Limited Edition of 200 copies
Artwork – Canedicoda
Photography By – Dawid Laskowski
Recorded By – Luca Consonni
Mixed By, Mastered By – Barlas Tan Özemek
Contact Info: Via Tolmezzo 12/4, 20132 Milano, Italia
Matrix / Runout (Side 1 runout, etched): HOL-103 A K AH
Matrix / Runout (Side 2 runout, etched): HOL-103 B K AH
Matrix / Runout (Side 3 runout, etched): HOL-103 C K AH
Matrix / Runout (Side 4 runout, etched): HOL-103 D K AH

side 1
A  -  First Set Pt.1 ...................................................................................................... 22:51
side 2
B  -  First Set Pt.2 ...................................................................................................... 23:02

side 3
C  -  Second Set Pt.1 ................................................................................................. 19:34
side 4
D  -  Second Set Pt.2 ................................................................................................. 19:35

Personnel:
Alexander Hawkins / acoustic piano, melodica
Korhan Futacı / alto & tenor saxophones, gralla, flutes, voice, loops
Umut Çağlar / electric guitar, zurna, gralla, flutes, tape echo, rythymbox
Barlas Tan Özemek / electric bass
Berke Can Özcan / drums, electric drum module

KonstruKt and Café Oto are back with another release, this one being a live recording from 2015 featuring pianist Alexander Hawkins, a relatively young jazz pianist who has been cutting his teeth in the UK improv scene with the likes of Evan Parker and Louis Moholo, while also leading his own trio.

KonstruKt typically operate as a quartet with some of them taking on multiple instruments, but the typical set up is drums, electric bass, reeds, and electric guitar. Having a pianist like Hawkins adds a lot, then, and this recording offers a different type of sound than I am used to with KonstruKt releases.
As a group that is often hard to pin down in terms of genre, this album seems to me to be deeply rooted in the kind of ideas that Miles Davis was exploring when he originally went to “Electric Miles”, with albums like In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and A Tribute to Jack Johnson. While this particular release does not have the space or minimalism of In A Silent Way, it also doesn’t get quite as straightforward as releases like On The Corner either. In fact, it really is its own beast with its own voice, but I couldn’t help but to think of Miles own brand of electric jazz/funk/rock fusion while listening to this.

The recording has two tracks, or more specifically, two sets from the same night, each a single, 35 minute plus improvisation. The first set is an incongruous, vaguely hypnotic combination of psychedelic grooving and jazz technique. It sets down a disjointed and unpredictable groove, ambling along as a wall of sound. However, it seems content to just ooze along without direction, and It is wholly unobjectionable. The first set may seem a bit confusing at times, but in context it was a decent table setter for the second, more daring set. I highly recommend checking it out.

On the other hand, the second set is miraculous in immediately and I was surprised that 35 minutes or so had passed when it ended, as it was that enjoyable. It starts silent and spacey, unidentifiable electronic sounds and droning with a trickling of Hawkins keys spilling into the emptiness, which eventually turns into a full on cascade of adept soloing across the entire range of the piano, while the rest of the musicians establish a fragmented but melodic groove that sucks you into foot-tapping and head nodding places before totally flipping into more odd time signatures and barely tethered rhythms. They still move like a juggernaut of sound, but there is more interesting interplay, less predictability, and more moments of sheer transcendence. Often times they work toward a crescendo, with Hawkins and Korhan Futaci (reeds) trading licks among the chaos, while the high register and strident sound of the gralla cuts through the noise in an impressive flurry of notes at times. They reach moments both dark and ecstatic, with quick changes that sometimes leave Hawkins plinking on his piano by himself, reveling in the wake of the massive wall of sound that just disappeared. They explore a full range of interesting ideas that span the gamut of their varied styles, and by the time it gets going it is a totally different beast from any electric Miles, more aggressive, immediate, and varied.

(Review by J. B.)

If you find it, buy this album!