Minoru Muraoka – Bamboo

Description

– The Analog Vault // Essential Listening –

Japanese jazz musician Minoru Muraokas ability to amalgamate Japanese folk with Western jazz would surely earn a fascinating place in the wide genre spectrum of jazz fusion – and nowhere is this more evident than his beloved 1970 album, Bamboo. Wielding a bamboo flute known as the shakuhachi, alongside bandmates on other traditional instruments such as the koto (zither-like strings), biwa (wooden lute), and tsutsumi (hand drum) – Muraoka crafted a wide-ranging repertoire of hypnotic melodies, breakbeat grooves and tripped-out folk-jazz.

From rearranged renditions of jazz standards like Dave Brubeck Quartets Take Five, to subversive covers of 1960s rock like The Beatles And I Love Her, much ofBamboo consists of incredibly novel recontextualizations. But the albums greatest strengths lie in Muraokas original compositions, such as the psychedelic folk-soul of Soul Bamboo, and the 10-minute sprawl of The Positive and the Negative. Hallowed by the likes of DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist and co, this (previous) mega-rarity received a fantastic reissue by the good folks at Mr. Bongo in 2019. – The Analog Vault