Katsura Yamauchi Mori

JVT0022 (Jvtlandt 2022)

CD

Release: 20/12/2022

REVIEWS

This is the first time I hear a release with pieces for a sopranino solo. I haven’t heard the name Katsura Yamauchi. Apparently, he’s been playing the sax since the seventies and has been active as an organizer of concerts in Japan. Even better, he played with Derek Bailey, Han Bennink and the who’s who of the Japanese impro scene, Toshinori Kondo, for example. The aesthetics of this release is one of simplicity and confidence. The sopranino is especially hard to play in tune, even harder than the soprano sax. The pieces depict nature made into sound. Salmo (Salmon in Japanese) is the most technologically advanced piece here, with cascading waterfall runs, the type preferred by salmon to go up against in mating season. Apart from this one, the pieces are not that technically challenging, keeping the notes in tune is a different story, of course. Irrawaddy is named after the river running through Myanmar. The melody consists of long notes with faster runs in between, with silences between them. Silence is essential throughout as many melodic lines are repeated many times but with each a very slightly different length. That’s the minimalistic approach of Yamauchi. Some might find this boring. To me, it’s a mesmerizing and relaxing way of listening to music. The last piece Uzo (named after the Greek alcoholic drink, I think), is almost folklike in its simplicity and, therefore, quite an earworm. As stated earlier, this isn’t pyrotechnics on sopranino but lovely music that is a refreshing take on minimalism with ma, a Japanese concept of meaningful silence between the notes. Now, where did I put my soprano sax? Also, this isn’t his first solo album. The last one was recorded 15 years ago. I might track that one down as well.

Vital Weekly

For tre år siden da coronaen rasede fik jeg et yndlingsalbum. Den japanske trio Sagaing og deres beroligende album Aki leverede skønheden midt i al meningsløsheden.
Nu er der dukket et nyt album op med saxofonisten fra trioen, Katsura Yamauchi. Det er en soloplade, hvor han udelukkende spiller på sopranino saxofon - saxofonen der er den andenmindste i saxofonfamilien.
Som undertekst til pladens titel Mori, der betyder skov på japansk, står: “Wandering in the forest, heading towards the light.” Det er beskrivende for den søgende og poetiske musik som Yamauchi spiller. Han tager os med på en udforskende tur, hvor han sætter lyd på turen i skoven. Det er en plade, der vokser stille frem som de spæde grønne blade på træerne.

Niels Overgård @ JazzNyt

A PIECES THAT EVOKES STORIES AND IMAGES BY A JAPANESE SAXOPHONIST
A solo work by Katsura Yamauchi, a saxophonist in Oita prefecture born in 1954. In the past, he organized concerts for Derek Bailey etc, but this CD is not an improvisation, but a solo performance by sopranino saxophone. It is a taste that imagines "Wandering in the forest heading towards the light". The song "Mori" is the opening song, and although it is made to slowly draw four small stories with four songs each, it is composed of compact songs and is easy to listen to. The sound in the upper register is very crisp, and it has a warm and carefree, sometimes humorous appearance that also exudes melancholy. The performance sounds casually avant-garde because of its simplicity, but it is melodious and emotional. It has a gentle tone, but it is also powerful and percussive, and it has a sound that makes you feel the vitality that sets it apart from healing. It contains 16 songs of about 43 minutes, with excellent sound creation that evokes images only for artists who work on movies.

- Kazuhiko Namekawa (Music Magazine, June 2023 issue)