Dictionary Land by Taeko Kunishima
Taeko Kunishima's 5th Album; recording finished in March 2022. Now available on CD through Bandcamp. For reviews and more information visit taekokunishima.com
It is an eclectic mixture, featuring influences implicit in Japanese instrumentation and the Taqsim playing of Middle Eastern influenced double bass melody, and various other elements besides.
Some pieces were performed live in West Wales in August 2022. More information and reviews of the album at taekokunishima.com
Tracklist
| 1. | Dictionary Land | 6:23 |
| 2. | White Whale | 6:15 |
| 3. | Random Thought in the Dark | 5:05 |
| 4. | Image and Space | 6:45 |
| 5. | Corvidae | 6:59 |
| 6. | Love and Peace | 4:09 |
| 7. | Dialogue with Solitude | 8:43 |
| 8. | La Mer et La Rose | 8:41 |
Credits
released August 30, 2022
All tracks composed byTaeko Kunishima. Musicians: Taeko Kunishima: Piano and Analogue Synthesizer (Pro 1), Paul Moylan: Double Bass, Clive Bell: Shakuhachi, Flute, Camilo Tirado: Tabla, Calabash, percussion. Jeremy Hawkins: Field recordings.
Paul Moylan: A member of the Klezmer band 'She'Koyokh', he also composed Klez'Mahler, performed as prelude to Mahler's 1st Symphony played by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Camilo Tirado:He plays tabla mainly, but also other percussion. He is a producer, dub organiser and stage performance sound technician.
Clive Bell: A specialist in the shakuhachi (Japanese flute), Khene ( Thai mouth organ) and other East Asian instruments.
Jeremy Hawkins: He likes to combine the imagery suggested by words with the imagery suggested by sound recordings; from crows to waves.
Produced by Taeko Kunishima and Camilo Tirado
Recorded at Hackney Road Studios by Sean Lockwood
Mixed and mastered at Camilo Tirado's Studio
Executive Producer: Paul Jolly of 33Jazz Records
The review by 'All About Jazz'-Oct 2022 by Karl Ackermann: ...'The music is often meditative with sophisticated improvised passages...
The opening title track is a masterful melange with an emphasis on the traditional Arab and Middle Eastern music called Taqsim. Kunishima who lived in Yemen for a time,expertly renders unfamiliar melodic progressions and modulations......'Love and peace' is brief opus focusing on the nature of conflict, specially wars in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen...
... 'Dictionary Land' is a very fascinating and very different album, even by Kunishima's standards. It's worth exploring.'
A review from 'Simply Jazz Talk' August 2022 by Simon Defty : 'Dictionary Land is a collection of well crafted and interlinked tunes that draw together a number of influences and binds them in such a way as to make as to make them sound as though they have always belonged together. The music is beautiful and the playing of it sublime... '
A review from Pierre Duschesne, (Quebec, Canada): 'Dictionary Land'. Her entire discography showcases a coherent, complementary, clear vision on the need to infuse diverse cultures and influences in her music. With original and mesmerizing arrangements, she is influenced by Japanese musical structures and her Japanese heritage (e.g., Sakura pentatonic scale, Miyako Bushi), whether in her own compositions or when she interprets folk tunes. In addition, she integrates sounds from Arabic and Middle Eastern music.
Field recordings add some of the texture of contemporary music and give a deeper musical richness. This helps to create a cinematic soundtrack in the visual imagination of the listener and acts as a provocation to the normal and standard musical universe many experience most of the time.
Some Dictionary Land tracks reviewed by Pierre Duschesne:
'Love and Peace': Through poetic feelings and emotions, with an insistent and persistent groove, the performers ask to search for Peace first, before others settle those complex, yet probably necessary, political negotiations in the world beyond.
‘La Mer et La Rose': Angular and complex, a piano solo performance offering an abstract synthesis to this musical exploration, introspective and lyrical. Solid left-hand technique, creating its own polyrhythms, reminiscent of the pianist's musical vision, full of sensitivity and finesse.
All tracks composed byTaeko Kunishima. Musicians: Taeko Kunishima: Piano and Analogue Synthesizer (Pro 1), Paul Moylan: Double Bass, Clive Bell: Shakuhachi, Flute, Camilo Tirado: Tabla, Calabash, percussion. Jeremy Hawkins: Field recordings.
Paul Moylan: A member of the Klezmer band 'She'Koyokh', he also composed Klez'Mahler, performed as prelude to Mahler's 1st Symphony played by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Camilo Tirado:He plays tabla mainly, but also other percussion. He is a producer, dub organiser and stage performance sound technician.
Clive Bell: A specialist in the shakuhachi (Japanese flute), Khene ( Thai mouth organ) and other East Asian instruments.
Jeremy Hawkins: He likes to combine the imagery suggested by words with the imagery suggested by sound recordings; from crows to waves.
Produced by Taeko Kunishima and Camilo Tirado
Recorded at Hackney Road Studios by Sean Lockwood
Mixed and mastered at Camilo Tirado's Studio
Executive Producer: Paul Jolly of 33Jazz Records
The review by 'All About Jazz'-Oct 2022 by Karl Ackermann: ...'The music is often meditative with sophisticated improvised passages...
The opening title track is a masterful melange with an emphasis on the traditional Arab and Middle Eastern music called Taqsim. Kunishima who lived in Yemen for a time,expertly renders unfamiliar melodic progressions and modulations......'Love and peace' is brief opus focusing on the nature of conflict, specially wars in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen...
... 'Dictionary Land' is a very fascinating and very different album, even by Kunishima's standards. It's worth exploring.'
A review from 'Simply Jazz Talk' August 2022 by Simon Defty : 'Dictionary Land is a collection of well crafted and interlinked tunes that draw together a number of influences and binds them in such a way as to make as to make them sound as though they have always belonged together. The music is beautiful and the playing of it sublime... '
A review from Pierre Duschesne, (Quebec, Canada): 'Dictionary Land'. Her entire discography showcases a coherent, complementary, clear vision on the need to infuse diverse cultures and influences in her music. With original and mesmerizing arrangements, she is influenced by Japanese musical structures and her Japanese heritage (e.g., Sakura pentatonic scale, Miyako Bushi), whether in her own compositions or when she interprets folk tunes. In addition, she integrates sounds from Arabic and Middle Eastern music.
Field recordings add some of the texture of contemporary music and give a deeper musical richness. This helps to create a cinematic soundtrack in the visual imagination of the listener and acts as a provocation to the normal and standard musical universe many experience most of the time.
Some Dictionary Land tracks reviewed by Pierre Duschesne:
'Love and Peace': Through poetic feelings and emotions, with an insistent and persistent groove, the performers ask to search for Peace first, before others settle those complex, yet probably necessary, political negotiations in the world beyond.
‘La Mer et La Rose': Angular and complex, a piano solo performance offering an abstract synthesis to this musical exploration, introspective and lyrical. Solid left-hand technique, creating its own polyrhythms, reminiscent of the pianist's musical vision, full of sensitivity and finesse.
License
All rights reserved.
Taeko Kunishima: A Japanese pianist & composer, played piano at age 7, studied classical performance at university. On hearing Miles Davis, her direction changed. Lived in: Japan, UK and Middle East, experiencing their cultures, then reflecting on their distinctive modes musically. Released 5 albums: Played on BBC Radio 3, Jazz FM, Performed at London EFGJazz Festival and at Aberjazz in 2022.