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Soul Eyes / piano solo

Atzko Kohashi

Label: Studio Songs / Japan
Released: 2021
Views: 656

Tracks

1. Ida Lupino Carla Bley ・06:44 2. Everything Happens to Me Matt Dennis ・03:27 3. Sometime Ago Sergio Mihanovich ・04:46 4. I Can’t Get Started Virnon Duke ・04:48 5. Aubade Atzko Kohashi ・03:04 6. Ask Me Now Thelonious Monk ・04:37 7. Soul Eyes Mal Waldron ・04:44 8. Forget-Me-Nots Atzko Kohashi ・02:58 9. Panonica Thelonious Monk ・04:24 10. Ravenna Atzko Kohashi ・03:03 11. Infant Eyes Wayne Shorter ・05:14 12. A’s Blues Atzko Kohashi ・03:46 13. Triste Antônio Carlos Jobim ・03:20 14. Gary’s Theme Gary McFarland ・05:35

Personnel

Album Description

I feel that jazz is somewhat similar to poetry or tanka (a classical Japanese 31-syllable poem). This is probably because the act of composing in the moment is similar to improvisation in jazz. Choosing words and phrases requires a long period of discipline. And each of the words or phrases has a soul. We also feel a unique rhythm in poetry or tanka and the beauty of the spaces between the lines. Shuji Terayama is a 20th Century Japanese poet, a tanka-poet, and a writer. I’m amazed and attracted by his works— energetic, exhilarating, rhythmical. Even the punctuation has a sense of presence! Terayama, also a great jazz lover, wrote, "I decided to write the novel 'Ah, Wilderness' in the style of modern jazz. I improvised as I wrote…nothing in the novel was definite in the beginning." The joy of creative freedom from some source of inspiration has a lot in common with improvisation in jazz. It is not about having a prearranged plan or sequence, but following your feelings. We create our own sounds and phrases from numerous combinations of music notes. Each note creates a phrase, which leads to the following phrase. And the next. I thought I’d try to play the piano as if I were composing a poem or tanka, taking the opposite approach of Terayama. To coalesce my feelings and imagination with my own piano sound. Just as language has its own identity, I want to imprint my identity in my music. The Japanese language has many wonderful expressions that cannot be found in western languages. I think that we Japanese people have a very unique sensitivity, and we are lucky to have such a picturesque language. It would be wonderful if I could express these sensitivities with the piano. The songs featured in this album are my longtime favorites. Just as children learn language by listening to adults speak, I have been repeatedly listening to many albums played by great jazz masters since I was a teenager, memorizing their phrases, trying them out, and nourishing myself with their music. The more I listen and the more I play, the more I realize that the great predecessors are just as distant and unreachable as the stars in the sky. Nevertheless, just as we never tire of looking at the beautiful starry sky, the joy of jazz is never-ending. The title song, Soul Eyes (composed by Mal Waldron), is one of the songs in the repertoire of Steve Kuhn, a pianist who I admire and respect. I fell in love with this piece after listening to his interpretation. I imagine that when Steve Kuhn was in John Coltrane's group, he must have played this song with Coltrane. I believe that the beautiful melodies of jazz—like traditional folk tales— have been passed down from generation to generation. I am happy to be one of those storytellers. Atzko Kohashi in Amsterdam, October 2021

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