Label: East Wind – EW-7005
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Japan / Released: 1974
Style: Hard Bop, Contemporary Jazz, Free Jazz
Recorded June 16, 1974 at Victor Stuudio, Tokyo
Art Direction – Johsuke Kubo
Design [Album] – Mitsuo Hosokawa
Engineer [Record, Re-mix] – Toshio Kobayashi
Photography By [Cover] – Hiroshi Satoh
Photography By [Liner] – Toshinari Koinuma, Yukio Ichikawa
Producer – Toshinari Koinuma
A1 - Minors Only . . . . 13:25
A2 - Natural Tranquility . . . . 10:29
B - Salaam Salaam . . . . 18:28
Takehiro Honda – piano, composed
Juni Booth – bass
Eric Gravatt – drums, percussion
Takehiro Honda's most complex and challenging LP, Salaam Salaam pairs the pianist with bassist Junie Booth and drummer Eric Gravatt to explore the kind of creative reaches typically reserved for larger ensembles. If anything, the record is that much more remarkable for achieving its epic scope from so few core elements. Honda's adherence to austerity contrasts sharply with the bold, multi-dimensional sensibilities that signify the vast majority of post-Coltrane excursions into spiritual expression, yet the sheer soulfulness and abandon of his performance nevertheless vaults Salaam Salaam into the same physical and metaphysical planes. No less vital is the record's unusual warmth and tonal purity, which further underscore the humanity at the root of even its most abstract expressions.
_ Review by Jason ANKENY
If you find it, buy this album!