Stomu Yamash’ta/Masahiko Satō: Composition for Percussion & Jazz Orchestra Metempsychosis (1971)
Soul music of a very different sort, featuring free jazz orchestra and Yamash’ta on drum kitchen.
Kronomyth 4.0: Yamash’ta mass (you’ll catch on in a flash).
“Metempsychosis” refers to the transmigration of the soul, which is weird because, while I was listening to Metempsychosis, I could actually feel my soul leave my body and start kicking me. Don’t get me wrong: I like avant-garde free jazz with lots of drum solos as much as the next guy. Unless the guy next to me was just released from a psychiatric hospital, however, that probably isn’t very much. The co-conspirators in this “composition for percussion & jazz orchestra” are the jazz/film composer Masahiko Satō, jazz bandleader Toshiyuki Miyama and percussionist Stomu Yamash’ta. True to its title, there are moments in the music where it feels like you’re in a sea of lost souls. More common, however, were the moments when I wished I was in somebody/anybody else’s body than my own. You’ll understand that I’m just being snarky. The idea of creating music that maps out to the transmigration of the soul is right up my alley. Only I’m not sure how much mapping was actually done; it’s a lot more rapping and tapping to my ears. On the second side, Miyama and his New Herd are heard more often, suggesting the avant jazz stylings of Frank Zappa. Zappa, however, as a careful composer; Satō seems to leave a lot to chance and Yamash’ta. Maybe the whole thing was carefully scripted and just sounds random. In that case, I’d be impressed by the effort. My guess, though, is that Satō scripted the orchestral parts and let Yamash’ta improvise alongside them. That would explain some of the unusual sound pairings, like the steel drum in the opening minutes. Given how many recordings Yamash’ta has made, I don’t imagine this performance would fall into the must-own camp. It’s an interesting experiment, but the world is full of interesting experiments, and you’d get a lot more from listening to George Crumb or Albert Ayler than this.
Original elpee version
A1. Metempsychosis (Masahiko Satō)
B1. Metempsychosis (Masahiko Satō)
The Players
Stomu Yamash’ta (percussion), T. Miyama & His New Herd (jazz orchestra).
The Plastic
Released on elpee in 1971 in Japan (Nippon Columbia, NCB-7009).
- Re-issued on elpee in 1976 in Japan (Columbia, SW-7037).
