Billy Harper - Soran-Bushi B.H. (1978 Japanese Denon Vinyl LP)

Vinyl: EX
Sleeve: VG+
Obi: VG+

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Billy Harper - Soran-Bushi, B.H. | Vinyl LP - 1978 Japanese Denon (YX-7522-ND, Nippon Columbia Co. Ltd.)

Billy Harper moved to New York in 1966 and spent the following decade playing with Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Lee Morgan and Gil Evans before recording his own leader dates. This album was his fifth, recorded in December 1977 at Sound Ideas Studios in New York, produced by Yoshio Ozawa for the Denon label's Denon Jazz PCM In New York series. Jim McCurdy engineered; Kaoru Yamamoto and Takeaki Anazawa handled the PCM recording. Reginald Workman, Harper's colleague from the Elvin Jones group, served as A&R director.

"Trying to Get Ready" opens with the full quintet at pace, both Hart and Arnold driving from the first bar. Harper plays with the post-Coltrane intensity that defines his best work. Long phrases, the tenor pushed hard, the harmonic language open enough that the rhythm section can pull in multiple directions at once. "Loverhood" is the most lyrical piece on the record; reviewers have pointed to Harper's solo there as one of the finest he recorded in the 1970s. The title track takes up all of Side B. "Soranbushi" is a traditional Japanese fisherman's song from Hokkaido, the melody descending in a way that lends itself to Harper's extended modal approach. The 16-minute arrangement retains enough of the original melody to make the source material identifiable, then moves steadily outward.

This is the original 1978 Japanese Denon pressing (YX-7522-ND), manufactured by Nippon Columbia Co. Ltd. It was a Japan-only release and never issued commercially in the US.