Masahide Tokunaga
Masahide Tokunaga
*2023 stock. 200 copies limited edition* Masahide Tokunaga is a Tokyo-based alto sax player/improviser who carries out extremely distinctive performances comprised mainly of long tones. On the Hitorri label he has released the improvised performance CDs "Alto Saxophone 2" (2015) and "Bwoouunn: Fleeting Excitement" (2017), as well as "while your master is sleeping" (2020), on which he performs a composition by Taku Sugimoto. With the exception of that composition recording, "Masahide Tokunaga" is…
Leverages 杠杆
Born in Yamaguchi city in 1982; Masahide Tokunaga lives in Tokyo. He plays improvisation music, using alto saxophone.Tokunaga released the CD Alto Saxophone on Slub Music in 2009. Since around 2010 he has set himself apart from other sax players in pursuit of establishing an extremely original blowing style/playing structure permeated with delicacy and tension. The results of this exploration can be heard on his following solo/collaboration albums released on Ftarri, and also the new cassette in…
Bwoouunn: Fleeting Excitement
Alto sax player/improviser Masahide Tokunaga released his second solo album in 2015, and the highly original playing on that recording, comprised entirely of powerful long tones, received critical acclaim. Two years later, his third solo album shows that he has reached new heights. Proceeding in a comfortable way, his performances here consist mainly of long tones, but add subtle changes in timbre and volume with impressive technical skill, producing a highly creative sound space which could eve…
A Crescent and Moonflowers
The musicians who appeared in the concert at Ftarri, Tokyo, on June 5, 2016, were young improvisers active in the Tokyo area: Straytone (modular synthesizer), Yui Nakamura (voice), Takashi Masubuchi (guitar), and Masahide Tokunaga (alto sax). Three of the musicians (without Nakamura) performed the first set, followed by all four. Each set was a little less than 30 minutes long. This CD consists of those two sets. In both of these superb performances, an indescribable feeling of unity was produce…
Alto Saxophone 2
Masahide Tokunaga, born in 1982, is an alto sax player & improviser active on the Tokyo scene. This CD is his second solo album, and his first since the 2009 release of 'Alto Saxophone' on the Slub Music label five and a half years ago. Like that CD, these 7 tracks (recorded in January 2015) are made up entirely of subtly changing long tones played on the alto sax. This album is just as unique, but compared to the previous CD, which is made up entirely of soft playing, its sound is a great deal …
Alto saxophone
Masahide Tokunaga: alto saxophone. Recorded by Taku Sugimoto at Studio Slubmusic, Tokyo, October 4, 2009. Mastered by Taku Unami. Drawing by Reiko Shioda