Chris Hinze, Tadao Sawai, Hozan Yamamoto - 怪顛 [Mysterious] Keden (1974) [vinyl]

Chris Hinze, a Dutch jazz flutist who has produced many beautiful and euphoric works ranging from ethnic new age jazz to meditative music, released this album as the second installment of his "Super Session" series in which he collaborated with master musicians of Japanese traditional music. This work is a session with shakuhachi player Hozan Yamamoto and 17-string koto player Tadao Sawai, who have pushed Japanese classical music to the next stage. Hinze's flute playing is extremely good, almost sounding like a Japanese folk instrument, with an oriental spirituality in the tone and melody of his performance. ~ organicmusic.jp. 

CBS/Sony Records, SOCO-104, 1974
Recorded 4th October, 1974 at Aoi Studio, Tokyo, Japan 

Musicians:
Chris Hinze - Flute, Indian Bamboo Flute, Piccolo Flute, Alto Flute
Tadao Sawai - Koto
Hozan Yamamoto - Shakuhachi

Tracks:
A1. Koto's Prolog {Tadao Sawai} (2:04)
A2. Shakuhachi's Prolog {Hozan Yamamoto} (1:49)
A3. Indian Bamboo Flute's Prolog {Chris Hinze} (2:21)
A4. Keden {Tadao Sawai} (6:41)
A5. Rakka {Tadao Sawai} (9:44)
B1. Wave II Nehan {Chris Hinze} (4:16)
B2. Hiyoku {Chris Hinze} (5:28)
B3. Renri {Hozan Yamamoto} (6:26) 

Total Time: 39:49 

Credits:
Producer, Liner Notes - Nobuaki Arai
Supervisor/Director - Masao Matsuda
Engineer - Tomoo Suzuki
Cover Design - Aritsune Terada
Cover Illustration - Ikuo Niida
Layout [Flyleaf] - Shizuo Ishizuka
Liner Notes - Tadao Sawai, Yozo Iwanami

Miroslav Vitous - Purple (1970) [vinyl]

An interesting early fusion mélange, very open settings, Vitous overdubbing electric, or even electric piano, everybody leaves a lot of space in the music for the others, like a Bitches Brew stripped down to the very essence. The complete line-up is only on part of the album. It is totally different from his US debut Infinite Search, which is powerplay, in comparison - Purple is not exactly restrained or thoughtful, but takes its time much more. Somewhere in between In a Silent Way and the first Weather Report. On side one, Zawinul on Rhodes, Vitous on acoustic and Cobham play the title track, which is a rocky Vitous original (some bowed bass solo overdubbed), and Ron Carter's Mood. I like Zawinul better here than on any other album, I must admit. Side two starts with McLaughlin, Vitous on electric bass and piano (overdubbed), and Cobham doing Water Lilie, which could have made it to Weather Report's first LP as far as the mood is concerned; Shorter's Dolores with just Vitous and Cobham, two basses, arco overdubbed, similar to Mountain in the Clouds from Infinite Search; and Vitous' It Came From Nowhere, an experimental rockish track with Vitous and Cobham, both oberdubbing electric piano and a second drumset. ~ mikeweil, organissimo.org. 

CBS/Sony Records, SOPC 57101-J, 1970
Recorded 25th August, 1970 At Apostolic Studio, New York City 

Musicians:
Miroslav Vitous - Bass, Electric Piano (#B1,B3)
Joe Zawinul - Electric Piano (#A1,A2)
John McLaughlin - Guitar (#B1)
Billy Cobham - Drums

Tracks:
A1. Purple {Miroslav Vitous} (9:33)
A2. Mood {Ron Carter} (7:25)
B1. Water Lilie {Miroslav Vitous} (8:52)
B2. Dolores {Wayne Shorter} (4:09)
B3. It Came From Knowhere {Miroslav Vitous} (5:11) 

Total Time: 35:10 

Credits:
Producer - Miroslav Vitous
Engineer - David Baker
Photography - Yuzoh Satoh 

"I made that album after Infinite Search. I was working with David Baker, the engineer, and was experimenting with different musicians and material. I had Billy Cobham, John McLaughlin and Joe Zawinul there. They experimented with me. After six months, I thought I had enough material and put together an album. I think there is some excellent music on it. Purple was made before Weather Report started, but you can already hear some material that we later played with the band. There’s a song called "Water Lily," which has an identical skeleton to a piece we recorded with Weather Report called "Morning Lake." There’s another Weather Report piece called "Seventh Arrow" that was also on Purple. There was a development of the material on Purple that ended up in Weather Report. It was a stepping stone." ~ Extract by Miroslav Vitous, innerviews.org.