John Lauffenburger

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Paul Yonemura: First Flight Home

by Jack Bowers
September 22, 2026

For a recording that almost did not happen, drummer Paul Yonemura's First Flight Home is a welcome intruder and an undeniable pleasure to hear. As Yonemura tells it, four of his compositions were recorded on a demo tape in 1984, which is as far as they were intended to go. After listening to them, however, saxophonist Larry Honda added a pair of his original compositions and pianist Rick Helzer one, and what was once a demo tape started ...