New Nambu (4)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Text:Onnyk

Morioka Now 3

<Seclusion of Osamu Kanno, and free music from Soviet Union>

When the correspondence lapsed from Osamu Kanno, I also come to a deadlock. It was about 1989. No limits band Ensemble Arkhangel'sk from Soviet Union of just before collapse come to Morioka and performed the live. A Jazz Critic, Teruto Soejima brought me.Mr. Soejima introduced various unique players to me, and that was also popular in Morioka. So, I would like to accept them again (I also did a presentation of movie ” Moers Newjazz Festival ”, made by him). 

They were from Soviet Union, first visit in Japan and also the band from frontier. However, it was severe monetarily in that time. It would cost 1 million and 200 thousand yen by calculating roughly. There were seven people only for members, one attendant (A watchdog of Union of Soviet Composers. If there weren’t such person, it was possible to exile.) and Mr. Soejima. I accepted it despite of making a loss because of existence of Daisuke Kamada.

I have to write about Kamada again. He has been a great idiot and unparalleled existence. He has tried to talk about music by the power and the struggle rather than the aesthetics. Oh, I will stop to write about this because this will be too long. When I asked to Kamada, he gave an immediate answer. ”Arkhangel'sk！500km from Moscow！Severe cold town! A monastery was built on the offshore of Solovki islandsan archipelago in Russian era. A military port where kept out foreigners in the cold war era. I couldn’t believe a Jazz band existed there! Well, I have to invite them at any risk! ” He didn’t care about their performance. He reacted to a place name Arkhangel'sk vividly. We couldn’t pay for something out of our own pocket if it would be show a loss. Then, we made a group ”Euro Music society” by tens of people who were pestered forcibly by us. Kamada took a secretariat upon himself.

We received a subsidy from the prefecture and the city through this group. We received a subsidy from each Japan-Russia Friendship Association and Japan-Russia goodwill Association (like cats and dogs), and received an advertising fee from restaurants and usual shops in the city, then we put an advertisement on the brochure. We set ordinary Jazz trio (boring) in the local as opening act, and we made them to play with Ensemble Arkhangel'sk finally, it leaded to “ To promote the goodwill by the Russo-Japanese cultural exchange ”

Mr. Soejima asked ” They were able to play in the various style. What kind of style did you like? ”, so I said ” I liked extremely free. ” What they played against my will was continuing silly performance lazily and sometimes played freely. In deed, they played so to speak “ loose stage ”. Oh, I couldn’t believe they wanted to play that style. I guess the Drifters (Japanese comey band, who had played at the front act of Beatles when they came to Japan) was more interesting. But they had a faith. Guys called Skomorokh who were clowns of people against establishment from Russian era. Ensemble Arkhangel'sk seemed to want to succeed to Skomorokh’s spirit. The audience who expected Soviet jazz couldn’t understand such thing, of course. 

In fact, each member was a high performer. However, excessive delay to sax by the leader Vladimir Rezitskii killed such technique (If one uses delay, it tend to listen to own color of sound too much.). It was interesting that they put the souvenir section near the entrance. They didn’t bring vinyl. Everything was souvenir and sweets by their family. I felt pitiable or heartwarming because that became their direct income. Accompanying committee was a woman, and I was asked by her to introduce the women's diseases doctor. If she consulted a doctor in her own country, it took too much cost. It might be her who wanted to exile. An opening act Jazz trio of Morioka ignored the predetermined time and played endlessly. This was also one of the reasons to loose wholly. Finally all played blues. We could save face at last. 

Anyhow, it was lucky just because we could minimize to a loss. As can be expected of Kamada made a long face about the contents. I was tired. Nothing else remained. I have invited various performers to Morioka since 30 years ago, it can be counted on the fingers of one hand that I didn’t co-perform with them. This was one of them. But, Jazz enthusiasts in Morioka or Iwate have tended to join a faction, and simultaneously have been conservative too much. Even when we were asked to invite to Lee Konitz, they declined to it just because he would play by solo. Listen to “ Motion ” endlessly (Well, that is really great.). They also had no interest when Markus Stockhausen (the son of that Stockhausen) or Czech’s prodigy Dagmar Andrtova came. They have fussed around Count Basie. Although I don’t think Basie was bad particularly.

<Revival from the silence, I had more circle!>

I got off the subject. I annoyed about my own music and performance seriously in this time. Anyhow I had been tired. I thought it doesn't matter anymore. I was suggested to stop to think from Shun Ishikawa, a painter in Sendai. I returned the starting point because it can’t be helped. Solo live by the guitar and the sax. I could never stop two-sided. When a great person Kan Tae Hawn came to Morioka, I played the guitar solo as an opening act and played the sax as co-performance. He advised me.“He who runs after two hares will catch neither.”. It was very natural. But I can’t stop it yet. 

I was asked again when I had played slowly. A big gun in this time! That legendary group AMM! But we had no money. I had nothing to lose, so I asked a manager Jun Tanaka. He said Keith Rowe would accept solo live. Then, I asked him and he played in Morioka. Although Toshiko Akiyoshi’s big band played on the same night, I was glad 20 audience came to our live. I made bad pattern again, that was I played the guitar by solo and played the sax by co-performance. I couldn’t think something over. It was Autumn in 1995. In the same time, a guy Tatsuo Nakashima who was my classmate in the junior high school and the high school, returned from the training of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. He played the bass guitar originally, we tried to start something together. This guy taught me various music. 

I knew Yoko Sato, a pianist and a singer I got to know in the live of Keith Rowe had great talent. Hiromichi Izumiyama called Mr. Noize I made acquaintance in the session was omnivorous about musical tendency and instruments as me. If there were such interesting members, I determined to form a combo like jazz. I had liked Paul Bley trio in 60’s very much, and Yoko Sato was also a fan of them. So we would start to play Bley’s ”closer”. I was a fan of Barry Altschul, the drummer of that trio who participated in Circle later. So I wanted to play the drum by all means. I was totally unprincipled.

Although we started from Nakashima, Sato, and me originally, Nakashima left in some cases. Mr. Noize joined instead of him. When we used the euphonium instead of the bass or utilized special techniques of the guitar, we could create the new taste. So I went into raptures. What we didn’t have was only the audience. Talented persons such Yoshisada Komatusda (guitar, pianika), Akira Obara (drum), Tokuomi Tamayama (guitar) began to gather, it became “Sotto Voce” which the combo had both improvised quartet and progressive rock. But, it was a little later.

 

<A genius come when we forget one!>

In that time, an owner of the lesson studio or a staff of the musical shop said ”There was the drummer who asked if one would play the sax by the free style.” It intrigued me. A genius who arrived late, Hiroto Sato appeared. I contacted him and session with him soon. He liked Ian Pace and Takeo Moriyama, as might be expected his drumming have the atmosphere just like that in fact. I was astonished again.

One person who had known my performance since long time ago also asked me to join the rock band. He said young persons who played long time in the local would searching for totally new style band. Turntable player rather than DJ joined and there were three vocalists. They wanted to play considerably by the radical style.

I joined that practice. Before we knew, band’s name was fixed ”Hoya Sun Vice”. Although that seemed to mean eating hoya by Sanbaisu (vinegar, soy sauce and mirin (or sugar) mixed in roughly equal proportions), we were admonished that one should eat by Nihaisu later. But, it remained as we marked Hoya Sun Vice. In every Saturday we had the raging session or practice in the studio where can be used by free from 10PM to 2AM. It was spring in 1995. Although I was fulfilled only by this, disaster(天災) not a genius（天才）Osamu Kanno revived here! Moreover he had considerably hard idea! (Cont’d)