The Wire magazine calls Otomo Yoshihide's music "loud and physically uncomfortable for the listener in a way that few performers anywhere could make so pleasurable."
Like John Zorn, Japan's Otomo Yoshihide needs no introduction if you are into avant-garde jazz. An experimental musician, a turntablist and guitarist, it is possible that Yoshihide has played every kind of music imaginable - from sounds to underground to free jazz.
Playing with his New Jazz Ensemble (saxophonist Charles Kenta Tsugami, bassist Hiroaki Mizutani and drummer Yasuhiro Yoshigaki are recognised names in Japanese jazz) at the Festival d'Autunno in Italy, Yoshihide programmed his set almost like a "greatest-hits" package. The show opens on an inviting note: Song For Che could almost pass for a by the Liberation Music Orchestra before getting "noizier" by the minute.
The slowed-down Lost In The Shadows is almost a mood piece before Flutter brings free jazz right into the fore. Next is a cover of Eric Dolphy's Something Sweet, Something Tender. (Dolphy gets another plug - Straight Up And Down - later in the show.) Then there is that curve ball - Jim O'Rourke's Eureka, which seems to be a favourite with the band - this has appeared several times on their play and recording lists. It starts off being exquisite and precious before getting the free form treatment.
Disc 1
01 Song For Che-Reducing Agent 13:34
02 Lost In The Shadows 12:28
03 Flutter 18:06
04 Something Sweet, Something Tender 12:50
Disc 2
01 Eureka 13:14
02 Straight Up And Down-Mayonaka No Shizuka... 17:15
03 Gazzelloni 06:09