{"title":"Jojo Takayanagi","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eMasayuki “Jojo” Takayanagi began as a technically gifted straight-ahead guitarist, a professional by his early twenties who was known for sight-reading anything put in front of him, then spent the 1960s and 1970s pushing beyond swing, bop and modal jazz into free improvisation. He played a 1963 Gibson ES-175 for most of his career and led a run of short-lived, experimental groups, including the New Direction for the Arts trio and quartet, which performed at the 1973 Inspiration \u0026amp; Power 14 free jazz festival in Shinjuku. His records range from the Victor release \u003cem\u003eA Jazzy Profile of Jojo\u003c\/em\u003e (1970) to \u003cem\u003eFree Form Suite\u003c\/em\u003e (TBM, 1972), the live \u003cem\u003eLonely Woman\u003c\/em\u003e (1982) and the later \u003cem\u003eCool Jojo\u003c\/em\u003e (TBM, 1980), plus a stream of posthumous archive releases. He died in 1991.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"jojo-takayanagi-second-concept-cool-jojo-1980-three-blind-mice-tbmp-5018-vinyl-lp","title":"Jojo Takayanagi Second Concept - Cool Jojo (1980 Three Blind Mice TBM(P)-5018 Vinyl LP)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJojo Takayanagi Second Concept - \u003cem\u003eCool Jojo\u003c\/em\u003e | Vinyl LP - 1980 Three Blind Mice (TBM(P)-5018, Tee’s disc series)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA Lennie Tristano tribute from the last guitarist you’d expect to make one\u003c\/strong\u003e, Masayuki “Jojo” Takayanagi, Japan’s most radical noise improviser and tabletop guitar pioneer, returning to the cool jazz tradition he grew up in.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEight tracks steeped in the Tristano school\u003c\/strong\u003e, including “Subconscious Lee” and “Lennie’s Pennies”, with “317 East 32nd” named for the address of Tristano’s Manhattan studio. Quartet with Kenji Kohsei on piano, Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and Yasuhiro Yamazaki on drums.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOriginal 1980 Japanese pressing on Three Blind Mice\u003c\/strong\u003e, produced by Takeshi “Tee” Fujii, engineered by Yoshihiko Kannari at Epicurus Studio, Tokyo. With obi and insert.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 1979, Takayanagi’s reputation was built almost entirely on destruction. He had spent a decade pushing his Gibson ES-175 through noise, free improvisation and tabletop techniques that put him alongside Keith Rowe as one of the most extreme guitarists in improvised music anywhere. His New Direction Unit recorded albums that abandoned melody, harmony and fixed metre. He had collaborated with Kaoru Abe and Keiji Haino. Nothing about that discography prepares you for \u003cem\u003eCool Jojo\u003c\/em\u003e, which is a straight cool jazz record in the Lennie Tristano tradition, played with the kind of fluency and warmth that comes only from someone who internalised the language before they decided to tear it apart. Takayanagi started out in Tokyo’s jazz clubs in the 1950s as a cool jazz guitarist. It was his first language. “Second Concept” was the name he gave to this working band, a parallel project to the New Direction Unit that let him play the music he’d moved away from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tracklist reads as a love letter to the Tristano school. “Subconscious Lee” and “Lennie’s Pennies” are two of Tristano’s most important compositions. “317 East 32nd” is the address of Tristano’s studio and teaching space in Manhattan. “Palo Alto” nods to the West Coast. Several of the other titles play on standard names: “Froggy Day”, “These Things”, “My New Flame”. Kenji Kohsei switches between piano and electric piano. Nobuyoshi Ino, who also played bass in Takayanagi’s free improvisation settings, provides a walking pulse that grounds everything. Yamazaki’s drumming is light and responsive. The whole album has an effortlessness that makes the technical difficulty invisible. Takeshi “Tee” Fujii produced for Three Blind Mice, the Japanese label whose audiophile-grade recordings have become some of the most collectible jazz pressings in the world. Yoshihiko Kannari engineered at Epicurus Studio in Tokyo over three days in December 1979. With obi and liner note insert.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Three Blind Mice","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44972445204539,"sku":null,"price":330.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/IMG_9547.jpg?v=1794627683"}],"url":"https:\/\/lushliferecords.com.au\/collections\/jojo-takayanagi.oembed","provider":"Lush Life Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}