Ganryu Island is an collaborative album by John Zorn and Michihiro Sato. The album was first released on vinyl LP on Yukon Records in 1984 and later re-released on Tzadik Records as a CD with five additional tracks in 1998.[2]
| Ganryu Island | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1985 1998 (Re-Release) | |||
| Recorded | Radio City Studio on November 23, 1984[1] | |||
| Genre | Avant-garde | |||
| Length | 75:24 | |||
| Label | Yukon Tzadik (Re-Release) | |||
| Producer | John Zorn | |||
| John Zorn chronology | ||||
| ||||
The album is titled after Ganryujima, a small island in the Strait of Shimonoseki where legendary samurai warriors Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro engaged in battle.
Reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz | |
The AllMusic review by Joslyn Layne stated: "The great, no-holds-barred improvisation is by no means an inchoate whirl -- indeed, the shamisen's rhythmic presence often provides a steady, but flexible structure for the duo's truly imaginative interaction".[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz observed that "listening to Ganryu Island is like panning for gold: seeming eternities spent lodging through muddy dross in order to turn up a few moments of pure gold. By the oddest perversity, the very best tracks seem to be those which were excluded from the venial release".[4]
Track listing
editAll compositions by John Zorn and Satoh Michihiro
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ryukyu Heishi" | 6:12 |
| 2. | "Haguregumo" | 14:14 |
| 3. | "Two Ronin" | 3:53 |
| 4. | "Kagemusha" | 10:37 |
| 5. | "Odori Dayu" | 5:31 |
| 6. | "Ganryu Island" | 11:11 |
| 7. | "Yoshiwara Kaidan" | 3:27 |
| 8. | "Natsu Matsuri" | 5:31 |
| 9. | "Giri" | 5:29 |
| 10. | "Yonaka No Hatashiai" | 2:07 |
| 11. | "Uma No Koku" | 2:39 |
| 12. | "Tsugaru Bushido" | 4:33 |
Personnel
edit- John Zorn - alto and soprano saxophones, Bb clarinet, game calls, E-flat clarinet
- Sato Michihiro - shamisen
References
edit- ^ Discogs
- ^ Tzadik catalogue
- ^ a b Layne, J. Allmusic Review accessed July 22, 2011
- ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2000). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (5th ed.). Penguin. p. 1613. ISBN 0-14-051452-X.