MASABUMI KIKUCHI — Hanamichi - The Final Studio Recordings (review)

MASABUMI KIKUCHI — Hanamichi - The Final Studio Recordings album cover Album · 2021 · 21st Century Modern Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
snobb
"Hanamichi" is Japanese pianist Masabumi Kikuchi, who was living in New York for decades, last studio recording. Kikuchi has been known by his collaborations with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, and his original piano playing techniques.

"Hanamichi..." (what is the bridge-way that allows the actor to exit the stage by crossing the auditorium through the audience in Japanese Kabuki theatre) was recorded on a vintage Steinway at Klavierhaus in New York City in December 2013, the pianist passed away in July of 2015 at the age of 75. The recording sessions, which were organized by former ECM producer Sun Chung and lasted two days, were done while Kikuchi was already sick. It's known that he slept two hours in the middle of one session. His music here is a bit more fragile and meditative than usual.

Surprisingly enough, the album's material isn't what one would usually expect from Kikuchi. Besides of his own quite free "Improvisation", and one of his most popular originals, "Little Abi"(a song of rare beauty, dedicated to his daughter), Kikuchi plays "Ramona", originally a Latin-ballad from the late 20s, unorthodox, 11+minutes long version of "Summertime" and two radically different versions of "My Favorite Things". Recorded sound is perfectly crisp, in ECM tradition, just slightly warmer.

In same way as his once collaborator Paul Motian, Kikuchi pays a lot of attention to how each single note sounds, the silence is an important component of his music. Slightly less energetic and a bit more philosophical, than Kikuchi's music from some last years, this album is a perfect soundtrack for a matured master exit, Zen-meditative and non-melancholic cool at the same time.
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