snobb Almost all of Japanese pianist Masahiko Sato's albums were released solely in Japan which means they are not easily accessible in the Western world. For those interested in the best Japanese jazz, his name is probably heard, but the problem is where to start with his prolific discography.

Being one of the very best Japanese jazz pianists of the last half-a-century (the other equal name is Yosuke Yamashita), Sato released plenty of albums, and they all are quite different stylistically. He was one of the leading stars of the early Japanese avant-garde jazz scene, switched towards fusion later, returned back to freer forms, collaborated with more modern electronics wizards, etc, etc.

Still, if you are new to his music, and want to chose the one album where to start, "Transformation '69/'71" is the place.

Side A is recorded in 1969 and the music is excellent post-bop, groovy and elegant, with Sato's original "Tigris" being almost a jazz standard level song. This material comes from exactly same sessions (March 17 and 20, 1969) which are presented on Sato's debut album "Palladium"(1969).

Side B is recorded with the same trio (including another Japanese avant-garde jazz scene legend drummer Masahiko Togashi and more straight and lesser known acoustic bassist Yasuo Arakawa), but two years later. The album's title comes from those two session dates and the second one is polarly different from the first one.

Still with some beauty and grace, the trio here plays knotty jazz with lots of air inside. As it is characteristic almost exclusively to early avant-garde jazz, being a free form music here radiates some spiritual energy and doesn't sound as formalistic experiment at all. It's interesting that "cosmic" effects on side B are produced by Togashi percussion, not early synth.

It doesn't evidence Satos' evolution from mainstream towards free jazz though, since during these same few years he played very different music (the good example of his r'n'b / jazz rock album is 1970 "Bridge Over Troubled Water").

This short (less than 35 minutes) album is a quintessence of Satoh's music, and it's sound quality is extremely high even for so high raised Japanese jazz recordings sound standards of the early 70s. Original vinyl is a rarity, but 2011 CD reissue (of same excellent crisp sound) being out of press still circulates on secondary market.

snobb Pianist Masahiko Satoh,one of cornerstone figure of modern Japanese jazz, founded Randooga group in 1990.The project's concept was very simple: each member improvise based on knowledge of folk melodies from different cultures and doesn't try to arrange his musicianship according to common musical harmonies. More than thirty years ago bassist Alan Silva recorded the album ("Luna Surface"),based on similar concept,which sounded almost as cacophony. In Masahiko Satoh version, it sounds much more accessible and tuneful though.

For the first Randooga's release Satoh formed the all-stars big band including leading Japanese and Western jazz artists: sax players Wayne Shorter,Kazutoki Umezu and Kohsuke Mine,trombonist Ray Anderson,drummer Alex Acuna,percussionists Midori Takada and Nana Vasconcellos, guitarist Takayuki Hijikata and Akira Okazawa on bass.Recorded during live gig, this album contains quite eclectic mix of Japanese traditional tunes,jazz-rock,Latin percussion,contemporary classical composition,tuneful saxes soloing,big band's arrangements and pop-songs attractiveness.

Oppositely to above mentioned "Luna Surface" or many other similar Western recordings,music here isn't hot, attacking or just high energetic at all. Never too slow or lifeless to become boring, it still contains lot of Japanese Zen tradition and flows quite relaxing enjoying ever-changing tunes and rhythms. Interesting mix of spontaneous but well-controlled folk-tunes based orchestral improvisations, this formula doesn't work well all the time. Some part of 73-minutes long recording sounds as orchestra playing out of tune or just missing the direction. It always returns back on track,but the feeling of regular losing of direction stays with listener all album long.

Satoh continued his Randooga project for years ahead,releasing some albums and even founded in 1993 Randooga Dojo - a school of free improvisation for children and adults, the only such kind of professional education available in Japan(knowing jazz popularity in Japan it's a big surprise that young Japaneses,dreaming about jazz musician career,need to study in Berklee,US). Satoh Randooga's "Live Under The Sky'90" is a representative example of decades-long Satoh's (as well as some other sound Japanese jazz artists)search of "Japanese way in jazz", the experiments he never abandoned to continue.

snobb After excellent collaborative avant-fusion album "Dema" and live piano duet with Yamashita (both recorded in 1973), Masahiko Satoh remained silent for almost three years. It was a strange time on Japanese jazz scene - after free and experimental jazz glorious years (1969-1973)situation radically changed - some artists switched towards growing popularity of fusion, others - to pop-jazz. Most experimental musicians were generally out of place - short-lived Japanese funk-jazz still didn't come, jazz avant-garde dramatically lost popularity and time for brutal avant-rock, Japanese main experimental scene for upcoming years, will come after some years only.

Masahiko returned back to his experiments with piano and electronic devices, influenced by his collaboration with Wolfgang Dauner. To say truth, in series of three solo piano albums Satoh released in 1976 only one, third one contains electronic effects. Two first are just real solo piano albums and contains minimalist neo-academic compositions with just few touches of jazz improvisation (and lot of "negative space" - silence elements). Third album in series is subtitled "MultiSpheroid" and contains use of ring modulators and synthesizers, but in very limited dozes,mostly filling with light noise pauses between piano sound. Comparing with two previous series' albums,third is slightly more experimental and expressive (still borderline but sounds more "jazzy" in moments). One album-long suite,divided into two parts(because of two sides of original vinyl album).Rarity for Satoh music collectors.

snobb "Dema"("Rumours") is a Masahiko Satoh composed album's((based on Yasutaka Tsutsui science-fiction novel of the same name) - not band's name as it sometimes stated.

Actually, there are two original bands, participated on recording - Kohsuke Ichihara All Stars, an electric fusion sextet, and Masahiko Satoh Garan-doh, a piano trio. Resulting music is dark,spacey and quirky. "Dema" is a good example of Japanese experimental jazz of the time: the year is 1973 and you can hear all most progressive musical ideas mixed in one on this album. Based on Miles Davis "Bitches Brew" influences, both bands playing simultaneously bring music stream towards space rock,free jazz and psychedelic fusion. Heavy guitars, lot of keyboards, electronic effects - and knotted jazzy rhythms plus fragility of free jazz sax improvs is a risky mix realized here surprisingly successfully.

It's interesting that the album was released by major label CBS Sony - it shows that even they saw potential in such kind of music in early 70s.Originally a quadraphonic double vinyl album,reissued on CD in 2007 by Super Fuji Discs this album is easier accessible now. Sound quality of reissue is a bit muddy, or better to say - more prog-rock, than true jazz record-like, but it's still ok.

Probably, more impressive at the time of release,this album is an authentic evidence of the spirit and sound of early 70s on Japanese (and world) progressive jazz scene.

snobb Masahiko Satoh's fourth album is a duet with German pianist and composer Wolfgang Dauner. Dauner is one of very early European avant-garde jazz pianists, and he recorded the first free jazz album in Germany back in 1964. Dauner played with Eberhard Weber and Jean-Luc Ponty, and in the late 60s, he experimented with choral music. Being a passionate innovator and experimenter, in 1970 he discovered electronic devices and started using them in his music. He experimented with ring-modulated Hohner clavinets and pianos and recorded several albums for ECM. During his Japanese tour in spring 1971, he met one of the most advanced Japanese pianists of that time, Masahiko Satoh.

The five compositions on this album were recorded in Tokyo in March 1971, but were not released until that autumn. It's interesting that a few months later, Masahiko Satoh will record and release (on the same label Express/Toshiba) his best known, and in some sense, legendary album " Amalgamation" - an eclectic mix of musical genres and sounds, which was probably influenced by his earlier collaboration with Dauner.

"Pianology", released soon after "Amalgamation", wasn't as strong in comparison, and stayed in its shade for decades. "Pianology" is a collection of free form classical and jazz piano duo improvs, spiced with ring modulator sounds. Quite bland in its compositions, this album's main value is its revolutionary (for the time) use of electronic devices in jazz, which is only interesting in a technical way, rather than musical, at least on this release.