2 gigs on the other side

 

Espace Jemmapes

116, quai de Jemmapes - Paris, 10°


details here

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Utopic Free Music – mardi 6 juillet 19h30 - Galerie Le Réverbère

38 rue burdeau, Lyon / Tél. 04 72 00 06 72 / Entrées 5/10/15 €

Katsura Yamauchi

(saxophones solo)

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Sébastien Coste & Guillaume Viltard

(sax soprano, baudruches, contrebasse)

 

Katsura Yamauchi (b. 1954)

 

Katsura Yamauchi picked up his first saxophone in the early 1970s and was quickly drawn to modern jazz, avant-garde and free improvisation. Born in Beppu, far from the traditional creative centers around the bigger cities in Japan, Yamauchi was until recently relatively unknown, but has now shown himself to be one of the most unique musicians in Japan.

 

For years Katsura Yamauchi was sporadically active as both musician and concert organizer, and helped arrange performances in Japan for veteran musicians from both the USA and Europe, such as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Tristan Honsinger and Milford Graves. 

Not until 2002 did he quit his regular job to dedicate himself fully to music. Yamauchi was influenced by the new experimental sounds coming from Tokyo, but had developed his own original style, mixing improvisation and minimalism with melodic elements. The music is at the same time challenging and easily accessible, unrecognizable and beautiful.

 

Katsura Yamauchi has released several solo CDs and recorded with Michel Doneda, Gunter Müller and Norbert Möslang from Voice Crack and performed with Taku Unami, I.S.O., Misha Mengelberg, Tatsuya Nakatani, Sharif Sehnaoui, Jason Kahn, Otomo Yoshihide, sachiko M, Barre Phillips, Kim Dae-Hwan, Gino Robair, Toshinori Kondo, Yoshimitsu Ichiraku, Travassos, Toshimaru Nakamura, Seijiro Murayama, Han Bennink and many others.

 

In addition to extensive activity in Japan, Katsura Yamauchi has toured the USA and several times in Europe. He has performed at the following festivals: Musique Innovatrices 2005, Castello Canalis 2007, Beppu Contemporary Art Festival 2008, Ftarri Festival 2008, Amplify Festival 2008 and Asian Meeting Festival 2009.

 

Katsura Yamauchi is really both a new and a veteran artist… I am greatly refreshed by his energetic and confident performance.”

 

- Otomo Yoshihide, July 2003

 

Review of first solo album:

 

The opening “Salmo” is an unhurried exploration of a tumbling phrase on sopranino, repeated and modified, It evokes flowing water, or possibly a salmon’s leap, and Yamauchi closes his a1bum with a second version, recorded standing up to his waist in a Japanese river near a small waterfall. There is a tradition of shakuhachi players practicing by a waterfall. Another slight link with Japanese flute repertoire is his habit of building a piece from a very limited selection of melodic phrases and sounds. “Impressions of Ams” works away at a melancholy tune on soprano - lyrical, spacious, Yamauchi has all the time in the world. “Kapuri!” patiently weaves a strand from long, husky alto sounds, keys clapping shut the notes. “Onchorhynchus Otomo” pays homage to Otomo Yoshihide by associating him with an important family of salmon. This eerie, deep humming, pushing at unstable overtones on the baritone, is like a rhapsody of air in plumbing, but the regular patterns mean it’s also a tune, Yamauchi uniquely plays free Improv you can sing along with.”

 

- Clive Bell, The Wire, July 2004

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