KIKUCHI, MASABUMI - HANAMICHI - THE FINAL STUDIO RECORDING II (LP)

The Final Studio Recording Vol.II, a continuation of the late Japanese pianist Masabumi Kikuchi's final studio sessions. This extraordinary recording-following the critically acclaimed 2021 debut volume-offers seven additional tracks from the same December 2013 sessions at Klavierhaus, New York, presenting what may be the most intimate and revelatory performances of Kikuchi's remarkable career. Recorded just two years before his passing in 2015, these sessions capture Kikuchi at his most contemplative and expressive, embodying what he called his ability to "lay back" and appreciate his own musicality through "hard-earned, critical distance." The album features his distinctive interpretations of beloved standards alongside expansive improvisations that showcase his unique capacity for abstraction infused with poetic beauty. The seven tracks on Vol.II span over 43 minutes of music, including Kikuchi's transformative takes on "Manhã de Carnaval," "Alone Together," "I Loves You Porgy," and "My Ship"-songs deeply connected to his formative years as a music student in Tokyo in the late 1950s. Interwoven throughout are three of his signature improvisations, which critic Ben Ratliff describes in his liner notes as "instant ballads from another planet," demonstrating Kikuchi's remarkable ability to create music that moves "not forward toward musical resolutions, but outward."