Song Of Soil

Description

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the special edition of Song of Soil, the cult album by Japanese drummer Masahiko Togashi, recorded in Paris in 1979 with Don Cherry and Charlie Haden and released on the Japanese label Paddle Wheel. Supervised by Martin Meissonnier, Song of Soil is a pinnacle of spirituality, blending jazz with Japanese and ambient influences. Japanese pianist Takashi Kako had organized a session for Togashi with Don Cherry and Charlie Haden thanks to Martin Meissonnier, a young journalist and radio producer who was Don Cherry's right-hand man in Europe at the time. Masahiko Togashi is a key drummer on the Tokyo scene and an essential figure in Japanese free jazz, alongside guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi, pianist Masahiko Sato, and saxophonist Mototeru Takagi. Despite an accident that left him paraplegic, Togashi remained very active thanks to a special drum kit that allowed him to circumvent his disability. He came to Paris to record Song of Soil with Cherry and Haden. This was a period of intense creativity for Don Cherry. Always in search of new adventures, he accepted the session with Togashi, and the musicians met with Charlie Haden to record the album. Recorded in two days with six compositions by Togashi, Song of Soil is a superb suite of improvisations highlighting the interaction between the three musicians. Alternating exploratory sequences and meditative passages influenced by the Far East, Song of Soil is a truly hypnotic journey. A key but little-known album in Don Cherry's discography, Song of Soil is an essential album of Japanese jazz and a unique encounter between three universes, far more than the sum of its parts. It is reissued here in its original format and augmented with an 8-page illustrated booklet offering a fascinating insight into this magical session recorded during the Parisian summer of 1979. It includes new liner notes from Martin Meissonnier in conversation with Jacques Denis, as well as a biography of Togashi by Paul Bowler.