Yamashita Yosuke Trio - April Fool/ Coming Muhammad Ali

barabara sounds sez:

This was a post I had planned for the beginning of this month (until seismic events intervened). Now I just want to get it up before we run into May...

More Yamashita, this time with his original

bass-less

trio, with Nakamura Seichi and Moriyama Takeo doing the honors on sax and drums respectively. This was the last album with this line-up (before Sakata Akira took over from Nakamura).

Originally released in 1972 (U.R.C Records),

it was inspired by the Muhumman Ali-Mac Foster heavyweight title fight that took place in Tokyo earlier that year — on April 1st, hence the title.

Quick diversion: the poster for the fight was something else...

Back to the album: What you get is interviews and Ali soundbites

interspersed

with

plenty of

Yamashita's high-intensity free playing

.

It's tempting to say the album is a knock-out but like t

he actual fight (which Ali took the full 15 rounds and won by a decision), it isn't a classic. Once you've heard the spoken word sections a couple of times, you'll probably want to edit them out and focus on the

music tracks.

If this grabs you, then check out this brief sliver of footage of the Yamashita trio from Wakamatsu Koji's equally out there "

Ecstacy of the Angels" from the same year.

There's more info on Yamashita here. And don't neglect el Goog Ja's discography over here...