At the Room 427

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Ultimately, this is a revelation, as fierce and exciting as anything being played at Studio Rivbea or anywhere else in New York at the time. — Downbeat, March 2022, 4 and a half out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 21st Jan 2022
Catalogue No: BBE588ALP
Label: Barely Breaking Even (BBE)
Length: 51 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

21st January 2022

This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched.

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Ryojiro Furusawa: Acoustic Chicken

Work length20:08

Album only

Koichi Matsukaze, Ryojiro Furusawa

Koichi Matsukaze: Theme Of Seikatsu Kojyo Iinkai

Work length7:46

$1.50

$2.10

$2.60

Koichi Matsukaze, Ryojiro Furusawa

Koichi Matsukaze: Little Drummer

Work length11:45

$2.00

$2.80

$3.50

Koichi Matsukaze, Ryojiro Furusawa

David Sherman-Ramirez: Lover Man

Work length9:45

$1.50

$2.10

$2.60

Koichi Matsukaze, Ryojiro Furusawa

Koichi Matsukaze: Theme Of Seikatsu Kojyo Iinkai

Work length2:03

$1.00

$1.40

$1.75

Koichi Matsukaze, Ryojiro Furusawa

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Recording of the Week, Koichi Matsukaze Trio, 'At the Room 427'

21st January 2022

The latest in Barely Breaking Even's 'J Jazz Masterclass' series is an intimate trio set recorded in a university classroom, featuring some of the Japanese jazz scene's early free jazz experiments.

The ninth album in BBE Music's J Jazz Masterclass Series presents ‘At the Room 427’ by Koichi Matsukaze Trio Featuring Ryojiro Furusawa, a rarely heard exemplar of post-modal power bop and free jazz.

Delivered by a trio playing with an intensity and energy that draws on classic Eric Dolphy and mid-era Coltrane but definitely with its own particular vibe, At the Room 427 is an exemplar of febrile improvised jazz that could only come from Japan.

This deluxe reissue sees a welcome return to the J Jazz Masterclass series for saxophonist Koichi Matsukaze. Originally issued in 1976 on the cult ALM label, At the Room 427 is the debut album from one of the most exciting and forward-thinking instrumentalists to emerge in the mid 1970s. Matsukaze's distinctively angular, deconstructive style adds an unpredictable quality to the session that is balanced by the muscular bass of Koichi Yamazaki and the kinetic drumming of Ryojiro Furusawa, who provides a sound footing for Matuskaze’s fiery solos and free-form chemistry.

The album opens with the epic Acoustic Chicken, a 20-minute tour de force of dynamic and explosive interplay. Featured on J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz From Japan volume 3 and written by Furusawa, Acoustic Chicken's strong melody lines and scorching sax finely mesh with the driving rhythm section. Furusawa’s Elvin Jones-like rolls and batteries of percussion are underpinned by Yamazaki’s driving and rounded bass.

At the Room 427 also includes a radical deconstruction of the Billie Holiday classic Lover Man and three more original compositions by Matsukaze. The album was recorded live in November 1975 before a small audience in – as the title states – Room 427, a classroom in Chuo University, the alma mater of both Matsukaze and Furusawa. However, despite the rudimentary surroundings, the recording by Yukio Kojima, founder of ALM, manages to give the listener the feeling of being in the room itself, up close to the band, bristling with an intense energy.

This reissue of a long-lost rarity of post-bop/free playing maintains the exceptionally high standard set by the previous releases in the BBE Music J Jazz Masterclass Series. As with all releases in the series, At the Room 427 comes with full reproduction artwork and extra sleeve notes, with artist interviews and biographies.

The J Jazz Masterclass Series is curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden for BBE Music.

Reviews

March 2022

Ultimately, this is a revelation, as fierce and exciting as anything being played at Studio Rivbea or anywhere else in New York at the time.

21st January 2022

If you can get past the slightly dusty recording, At the Room 427 makes for a pretty appealing package, and interesting insight into a long-gone period in Japan’s developing jazz scene. There’s the added mystique of the relatively low-key nature of the session itself, a small and intimate show being played to a classroom full of students that has the trio doing their best to make sure these youngsters were entertained.

At the Room 427

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Recording of the Week, Koichi Matsukaze Trio, 'At the Room 427'

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At the Room 427

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