Kanai, Hideto Group - "Q"

barabara sounds sez:

More goodies from the tbm vaults, this time from pioneering jazz bass great Hideto Kanai. Laid down in 1971, his ensemble features some of the future lunimaries of j-jazz. Mine is there, so is Takayanagi and Motohiko Hino (here sharing drums duties with Hiroshi Yamazaki) among others. Even the CD reissue is well OOP, but it's the music not the rarity that makes this special. Free but not without structure, this is classic tbm, classic 70s j-jazz. A barabara classic in fact. 

east wind says:

The sixth album released by Three Blind Mice turned the spotlight on Hideto Kanai a veteran bassist who had been pursuing a very progressive, unique and uncompromising kind of jazz since the early 1960s. With his passion for educating young musicians and adventurous nature, Kanai has drawn some comparisons to another great leader, Charles Mingus, whom he respected.

The four performances in this album are all free-oriented and may be challenging for some listeners, but they riveting, fascinating, and ultimately satisfying. The opening and closing numbers were actually quite "composed." In an interesting collaboration with contemporary composers (from the world of classical music), Shuko Mizuno wrote "April" and Hiroshi Nanatsuya wrote "Meditation" specially for this group.

personnel:

Hideto Kanai bass; Kosuke Mine alto sax; Allan Praskin alto sax; Tadayuki Harada baritone sax; Masamichi Suzuki trumpet; Hiroshi Koizumi flute; Choyo Kanda xylophone; Masayuki Takayanagi guitar; Mototeru Hino drums; Hiroshi Yamazaki drums

tracks:

1. April Songs for Kanai, Zui-zui-zui-du-tubadaba; 2. Q; 3. Kaleidoscope; 4. Meditation

There's a short bio of Kanai here...