"Shakuhachi and koto in a unique synthesis of sound. An extraordinary album of modern interpretative pieces composed by Neptune."

John Kaizan Neptune
Nep Tunes (Victor) - JKN-1639
1994

Track	Title	Kanji	Length	Artist
1	Canyon View		14'37	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	CANYON VIEW 1990 A work commissioned by Yasuko Watanabe and her students. Their request: write a tune using a pentatonic (five-tone) scale, the idea being that this would be easier to improvise with as the familiar traditional Japanese music is also pentatonic. I used a different pentatonic scale for each of the three movements, each one has only one note change 1/2 step. I was still searching for a title when I had a chance to visit the Grand Canyon (Arizona. U.S.A.): each view point is quite unique though separated by a short distance, and I thought it was similar to the piece I wrote - it's all pentatonic. but go a short distance and it's a completely different view.
2	Moon Spirits		09'15	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	MOON SPIRITS 1994 This tune was specifically written for this recording. The three koto parts work well with fairly distinct ensemble function --lead/solo koto, rhythm/harmony koto, and bass koto. A bass 2.4 shakuhachi and a standard 1.8 shakuhachi are both used.
3	Knock On Sky		09'20	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	KNOCK ON SKY 1994 A koto solo also written specifically for this recording. Special thanks to Yasuko Watanabe for helping in arranging this piece and working out the complex fingering.
4	Roots And Branches		11'52	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	ROOTS AND BRANCHES 1994 The first movement is from shakuhachi "roots": traditional honkyoku-Japanese scale, free-rhythm, importance of space, deliberately simplified. The second movement has European "roots", specifically, music inspired by 16th century counterpoint. Hermann Battenberg introduced me to some beautiful choir recordings of works by Palestrina and I thought music like that would sound great on shakuhachi too. The last movement features a more rhythmic (American?) branch with some Japanese folk scales thrown in for flavor. Scored for 1.6, 1.8, 2.1, and 2.4 shakuhachi, I recorded all four parts. This was quite an engineering feat considering we had only two 2-track digital recorders, and still managed to record everything in stereo.
5	Going To Town		13'25	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	GOING TO TOWN 1985 This tune is the musical story of a person traveling from the country to a town for the first time. It starts with a prayer for a safe journey: free-rhythm solo shakuhachi using the country folk scale (yosempo). Traveling along at a nice walking tempo, the tune continues using the folk scale. When contact is made with the city it has a tremendous, percussive impact on the traveler. This is followed by a slow, somewhat somber melody using the city scale (insempo). Later, after appreciating the rich variety of things happening, the country person is now able to enjoy the fast pace and international flavor: a faster tempo and other tones besides the Japanese scales are used.
6	Five And Thirteen Are Prime Numbers		09'59	Shakuhachi: John Kaizan Neptune
	FIVE AND THIRTEEN ARE PRIME NUMBERS 1983 This is the first duet that I wrote for koto and shakuhachi. Musical influences are from Japan, India, America (blues), and Africa. How did I come up with the title? I thought it was more interesting than "Duet For Koto and Shakuhachi Number 1".