January 1, 2015
Herbie Mann - Gagaku & Beyond album
So, I'm cataloguing albums today and come across this one. Very cool. I'm sure I paid a $1 for this from Hello Records in Detroit, not knowing what to expect, and what a great find and buy. I was expecting jazz, and while I know know that is the genre Herbie Mann plays (I didn't know who Herbie was), this album is better classified as world music.
To me, side 1 of the album first stuck me with having an African sound. But, obviously with a song title of Shomyo (Monks' Chant) the song and album is asian, more specifically traditional Japanese. Side 1 contains two songs: Shomyo (Monks' Chant) which is 14 in and 12 seconds and Mauve Over Blues which is 12 minutes and 50 seconds. Side 2 contains three songs: Kurodabushi (Sake Drinking Song) 5 minutes and 20 seconds, Etenraku 8 minutes and 52 seconds, and Gagaku and Beyond 7 minutes and 20 seconds.
The first song on both sides is arranged by Minoru Muraoka and Herbie Mann. All of the songs are intended to be true to traditional Japanese music with some improvisational very subtle jazz infused delicately into it at times.
Gagaku (primarily instrumental music) and shomyo (ritual vocal chanting) are two two principle domains of Japanese art music. Some of this type of music has remained relatively unchanged for the past several centuries. Gagaku dates back to the 8th century. Its predecessors, beaing the same name, were the instrumental music of China and Korea. It was in the early 8th century that Gagaku-ryo, the imperial Music Bureau, was established to adapt various foreign influences to a Japanese style. The two principal categories of gagaku are 1) togaku, of Chinese (as well as Indian) origin; and 2) komagaku, of Northwest Asian (Korean, Manchurian) origin. When performed alone, gagaku is called kangen. When accompanying a dance, it is called bugaku. There are also vocal types in gagaku.
Shomyo is the Buddiest chant. Like gagaku it is of Chinese origin. Its rules and systems have become a basis for later secular forms of Japanese art music - not unlike the Gregorian chant, the theoretical and stylistic source of the growth of western music. It was toward that end of the 11th century that shomyo became prevelant. Two Buddist sects, Shingon and Tendai, gained renown in this domain. The monks performing on this album are of hte Shingon sect.
Minoru Muraoka and his His New Dimension was formed in 1970 and consists of nine members who all play Japanese musical instruments. The purpose of the group is to capture and blend the feeling of today's music and the vitality of present day life with the sound and spirit of music made on the traditional Japanese instruments. The group had released ten albums by the time of this album.
Minoru Muraoka was born in Miyazaki (the island of Kyushu) in 1923. He began studying classical shakukachi at the age of fifteen. By the time of this album, he had recorded 63 albums.
Herbie Mann was born Herbert Jay Solomon in 1930 in Brooklyn, New York, but took the stage name Herbiee Mann. He is best known as a flautist, but also played the tenor sax and clarinet. He had a popular single called "Hijack" that was a #1 hit on the Billboard dance charts for three weeks in 1975. He is considered a very early pioneer of the fusion of jazz and world music. According to a 1998 interview Mann had made at least 25 albums that were on the Billboard 200 pop charts, success denied most of his jazz peers.
The album was recorded at Mori Studio in Tokyo and released in 1976.
Shomyo (Monk's Chant)
Mauve Over Blues
Kurodabushi (Sake Drinking Song)
Etenraku
Gagaku And Beyond
Album info at Discogs
Listen to entire album on YouTube
Wikipedia page on Herbie Mann
Herbie Mann discography
Page on album at Allmusic.com