Meditation Among Us | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1977 | |||
Recorded | July 28, 1977 | |||
Venue | Polydor 1st Studio, Tokyo | |||
Genre | free jazz | |||
Length | 36:05 | |||
Label | Kitty Records MKF 1021 | |||
Producer | Hideto Isoda | |||
Milford Graves chronology | ||||
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Meditation Among Us is an album by American percussionist Milford Graves, recorded in July 1977 and released later that year by Kitty Records. The album features Graves on drums, percussion, and piano, along with Kaoru Abe on alto and sopranino saxophones, Mototeru Takagi on tenor saxophone, Toshinori Kondo on trumpet and alto horn, and Toshiyuki Tsuchitori on drums and percussion. [1] It was recorded while Graves was visiting Japan with dancer Min Tanaka. [2]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [3] |
In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars, and wrote: "The blowing intensity on any Graves' date is intense, but here it is over the top, as the Japanese players attempt to match his intensity." [1]
Writing for The Wire , Alan Licht commented: "Graves firmly establishes himself as the pivotal figure, driving the ensemble but also acting as its steady hub, enabling the music to flow without fraying. 'Together and Moving' bristles with the excitement of the occasion yet it remains taut and purposeful. On 'Response' Graves plays piano, contemplative at first, then torrential." [2]
In an article for Artforum , David Grundy called the tracks "extraordinarily joyous, multiphonic squalls, as if every rhythm under the sun were sounding at the same time." [4]
A reviewer at Destination Out stated that "Response" "ranges widely, beginning as a percussion workout spurred by Graves' gripping ululations. Graves then moves to the piano for an open, searching episode, suggesting echoes of Alice Coltrane's spiritual pursuits. Not surprisingly, Graves has a highly percussive approach to the piano, and gradually leads the horns to moments of abandon, before the concluding cool down. This is exactly the sort of meditation we can get behind — one that finds beauty in quiet moments as well as the storms life throws at us all." [5]
In organology, the study of musical instruments, many methods of classifying instruments exist. Most methods are specific to a particular cultural group and were developed to serve that culture's musical needs. Culture-based classification methods sometimes break down when applied outside that culture. For example, a classification based on instrument use may fail when applied to another culture that uses the same instrument differently.
Milford Graves was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, Professor Emeritus of Music, researcher/inventor, visual artist/sculptor, gardener/herbalist, and martial artist. Graves was noteworthy for his early avant-garde contributions in the 1960s with Paul Bley, Albert Ayler, and the New York Art Quartet, and is considered to be a free jazz pioneer, liberating percussion from its timekeeping role. The composer and saxophonist John Zorn referred to Graves as "basically a 20th-century shaman."
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Toshinori Kondo was a Japanese avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter.
Takagi Mototeru was a Japanese tenor saxophone player and composer, known for playing in a distinctive and powerful free jazz style. He played with many of the most important Japanese free groups and musicians during the seventies, such as ESSG and those of Masahiko Togashi, Motoharu Yoshizawa and Masayuki Takayanagi.
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