"Shakuhachi, guitar and string quartet recorded at St. Maria Church in Germany."

John Kaizan Neptune
Kosei Publishing Company - KJKN-9200
1992

Track	Title	Kanji	Length	Artist
1	Currents		04'04	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	This piece was written and first performed for the World Energy Council held in Madrid in September 1992. The idea was to express a dynamic, energetic "current" Japan. Special thanks to Kimio Yamamoto of First Party Inc. for asking me to write this piece.
2	Sailing East		05'47	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	I wrote this tune for an album called Shogun. That project featured me more as a composer than as a player, and I was looking for an opportunity to record this Japanese-flavored tune again featuring the shakuhachi. I think the 2.4 (bass) shakuhachi works well in this mellow setting with guitar and cello.
3	Bamboo Cutter		06'31	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	Bamboo Cutter, Bamboo Princess, Moon Return These three tunes are based on the Japanese folk tale "Kaguya Hime" (literally, "Radiant Princess"). The story in brief: An old bamboo cutter and his wife are without children and lonely. One day, while in the forest, the old man sees a piece of bamboo that is glowing, cuts it open, and finds inside a beautiful miniature princess who grows to become the child he and his wife had always dreamed of. After the Bamboo Princess becomes a young woman, she refuses many proposals of marriage. The parents wonder why, but are content to have their daughter in the house as long as possible. One day they find her crying, and she tells them she has to return to her real home, the moon. I wrote and first performed these pieces with pipe organ; they were commissioned by Izumi Takamori of Shizuoka Broadcasting System.
4	Bamboo Princess		05'20	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	See Bamboo Cutter.
5	Moon Return		06'43	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	See Bamboo Cutter.
6	Wing It		03'51	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	When I wrote this "bounce" tune, the melody flew out of the shakuhachi. There wasn't much rehearsal time, but I think the guitar and cello players were able to wing it with flying colors!
7	Between Couds		04'50	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	I set out to write a mellow Latin-flavored tune and spent more time trying to find an appropriate title than writing the piece. The title suits the mood and instrumentation-2.4 shakuhachi and classical guitar.
8	Pentasonic		04'28	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	The five basic open-hole tones of the standard shakuhachi give you D, F, G, A, and C. This is the folk scale of Japan and happens to be very close to a D minor blues. I believe the shakuhachi fits into this jazz context very well, as do the classical guitar and string quartet, though none of these instruments are typically found playing Pentasonic blues.
9	Kite		10'27	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	In this piece, originally scored for shakuhachi and violin, I try to evoke some of the moods of kite flying: the initial ascent, the actual flying-wonderment, dancing in the wind, descent into a tree, and maybe even a little African wind blowing in the last movement.
10	Two's Blues		04'56	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	This blues was written specifically for this album. We did only two takes: a slow one and one with a slightly faster tempo. We went with the first take, which so often seems to be the best when recording improvisational music.