★Craftman Records
Free Form Suite
Classic Japanese free jazz monster, originally released in 1972. Recorded live at Aoi Studio, Tokyo on 19 May 1972. The late 60s and early 70s was the time that Japanese free jazz began to lift off (see We Now Create LP of Togashi Masahiko with Takayanagi, Motoharu and other heavyweights releasing the 1st free jazz LP in Japan) and blossom into a fierce musical power to be reckoned with. Legendary combos such as Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction were soon responsible to be the originators of thi…
Flower Girl
few copies back in stock, totally sold-out at source - Replica reissue of one of the rarest free jazz LP ever made: Masayuki Takayanagi's Flower Girl. Supposedly released in a limited run of 100 copies in 1968, this incredibly rare record - released as a promotional album, and never marketed - gets its first vinyl reissue via Craftman Records. Japan's leading jazz guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi is one of the first to pursue free jazz music in Japan, and its activity has not been confined to the f…
Kaitai Teki Kokan, 1970
CD Edition. Replica reissue of one of the rarest free jazz LP ever made: Masayuki Takayanagi & Kaoru Abe's earthshattering Kaitai Teki Kōkan. Supposedly released in a limited run of 100 copies in 1970, this incredibly rare record igot finally its first vinyl reissue via Craftman Records. The album features a recording of the duo’s live performance at the Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan concert hall in Shinjuku on June 28th, 1970. The reissue also includes a replica flyer that advertised the original event.…
Lonely Woman
*2022 stock* Guitarist Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi (1932-1991) was a towering leader in the Japanese jazz world. His first influence was Lennie Tristano, but through the 1960s and 1970s he explored and pushed the boundaries in free form jazz, leading a group called New Direction, among others. Ever a fighting spirit, in 1982, shortly after recovering from a life-threatening medical condition and surgery, Takayanagi decided to take on a challenging task for any guitarist: To record an entire solo …