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![Countryman / Toyozumi / Bates: Lovely Tago (On A Sunday Night) (FMR) Countryman / Toyozumi / Bates: Lovely Tago (On A Sunday Night) (FMR)](https://www.teuthida.com/productImages/misc4/34975.jpg)
The first of two performances at Tago Jazz in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines in 2024 between first generation Japanese free improv drummer Sabu Toyozumi, Malaysia-based bassist Richard Allan Bates, and Philippines-based alto saxophonist Rick Countryman, two contrasting sets from the first of a week of performances and studio recordings between three extraordinary collective players.
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Rick Countryman-alto saxophone
Sabu Toyozumi-drums
Richard Allan Bates-upright electric bass
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Label: FMR
Catalog ID: FMR691
Squidco Product Code: 34975
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: UK
Packaging: Digipack - 3 panel
Recorded live at Tago Jazz in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines, on January 28th, 2024.
"There is an immediacy and unvarnished nature to inceptive improvisations. As seasoned as the musicians may be, these embryonic meetings can be as equally searching as foundational in their language. Rick Countryman, alto sax, convened the trio with Sabu Toyozumi, drums and Richard Allan Bates, bass, having played with both musicians before in other combinations. Setting up a week of performances and studio recordings in Manila, this album captures them in their first meeting at Tago Jazz, titled in homage to Tago's owner, Nelson Gonzalez, who is fond of saying "only the best jazz for you lovely folks".
The density of the evening's first set countervails with the increased spaciousness of the second set; neither tentative nor untesting, the music from the trio drafts an indeterminate pathway explored over the course of the remaining week."-FMR
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Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Rick Countryman "Rick Countryman (January 31, 1957) is an American jazz saxophonist and flautist. After years attracting little attention as a baritone saxophone player, including an extended sabbatical, Rick made a late-life change to alto sax, at the urging of bassist, Simon Tan. His first recorded session with Simon and Christian Bucher, avant garde drummer from Switzerland, attracted the attention of French label "Improvising Beings" and was released as "Acceptance - Resistance". The recordings received many positive reviews, both in the United States and Europe. Rick currently now has 9 releases on 4 labels across Europe, Asia, and the United States, including multiple CDs with Japanese improvisational drummer, Sabu Toyozumi, who has made several trips to Manila to perform and record. The music continues to receive positive reviews and airplay. Two recordings were listed in "Gold Dolphy 2018". Since 2011, Rick has been an active member of the Manila jazz scene. He leads and performs in ensembles on baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, alto flute and bass flute; performing original compositions, as well as free jazz/improvisation, in his own jazz quartets and trios. His style is heavily influenced by Eric Dolphy, Sonny Simmons and the 60s Free Jazz movement. He was a student of Bert Wilson, and considers Michael Bisio and Rick Mandyck early mentors." ^ Hide Bio for Rick Countryman • Show Bio for Sabu Toyozumi "Yoshisaburo "Sabu" Toyozumi (born Tsurumi, Yokohama, 1943) is one of the small group of musical pioneers who comprised the first generation playing free improvisation music in Japan. As an improvising drummer he played and recorded with many of the key figures in Japanese free music including the two principal figures in the first generation, Masayuki Takayanagi and Kaoru Abe from the late 1960s onwards. He is one of a very few of this circle who are still alive and engaged in playing this music today. Toyozumi features on numerous commercially available recordings with many of the most notable Japanese and international improvising musicians including Derek Bailey, Mototeru Takagi, Misha Mengelberg, Peter Brötzmann, Keiji Haino, Otomo Yoshihide, Tom Cora and Fred Van Hove. In 1971 he became the only non-American member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians(AACM)). He dedicated his first record as a leader, Sabu - Message to Chicago, to compositions by AACM members, and in 1992 toured and recorded with AACM trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. Toyozumi has been instrumental in bringing many European and American improvisers to Japan including Derek Bailey, Misha Mengelberg and Sunny Murray. In 2005 British improvising guitarist and promoter John Russell arranged a two-day event dedicated to Toyozumi in which the drummer performed in different groupings with 14 musicians from the London improvised music scene including, most notably, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Phil Minton, John Edwards and Steve Beresford. The Wire described his playing at this time as follows: "He's busy, but there's always space between his notes, and he avoids the flashy technical solution to musical problems. His playing is crisp and dramatic, with a very occasional use of repetition to spark a climax. If it's possible for a drum kit to ask awkward questions, Toyozumi seems to be doing it". In an interview with Cadence Magazine in 1988 Toyozumi makes clear the importance of his relationship with nature as an influence on his playing and Clive Bell writing in The Wire in 2005 notes "his devotion to the way of Watazumido, the late shakuhachi player and Zen master, whose performances mixed martial arts and music in a bizarre cocktail of discipline and craziness". In 2009 he returned to London to feature as one of the players in Russell's improvisation festival Fete Quaqua which was recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio 3. He continues to tour widely and in the past year or so has performed in Belgium and France, Chile, Taiwan, England, Philippines and Greece. He also performs from time to time with the legendary Japanese noise group Hijokaidan. Currently he can be found performing on the erhu - a two-stringed Chinese violin - as often as playing the drums." ^ Hide Bio for Sabu Toyozumi • Show Bio for Richard Allan Bates "Richard Allan Bates plays guitar, bass and electronics. Born and raised in Hong Kong, he's also lived in the UK, Cambodia and the Philippines, and now resides in Malaysia. Richard has played in a number of musical projects and collaborations, bridging a range of genres from jazz to electronics to psych-rock. Rooted in free jazz and improv, he takes a mosaic approach to music with a focus on playing both structured and unstructured free improvisation." ^ Hide Bio for Richard Allan Bates
9/9/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
9/9/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
9/9/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
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Track Listing:
1. The Boy Asked A Lot Of Questions 8:00
2. Yogurt, Bananas, Cinnamon 8:50
3. First Bird For Trio 9:23
4. Full Moon Ending, Full Moon Beginning 5:27
5. Mosquito Ghost 6:08
6. When The Cheese Is Good 7:19
7. Out Of The Box - Sanju 5:23
8. Batangas Barako Through A Cone Filter 5:18
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Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Asian Improvisation & Jazz
Collective Free Improvsation
Trio Recordings
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