Masahiko Satoh - All-in All-out (1979)

This unkown gem - that will amaze casual listeners and still conquer regular ones - stars both Masahiko Sato's talent in displaying a wide varriety of tones and fusion scales and Dave Liebman's fierce and intense saxophone playing. Sometimes "All-in, All-Out" recalls Weather Report's edgy style of abstract fusion, and Sato's work here serves that purpose very well,which means, painting soundscapes simultaneously dreamy and cerebral. "Sapajou Walk" begins like an orchestrated blues lament, but by the time we reach "Fallout", the last track, we realize that this is not just a pop-oriented jazz thing, but a trip to something much deeper. This is truly great stuff, so check it out.
By Miguel Patrício in Improvised Solo

Styles:
Fusion
Progressive Jazz

Tracks:
01 - Sapajou Walk (06:17)
02 - Grama Grass (07:35)
03 - Salamander (06:26)
04 - Moth Ball (04:25)
05 - Thus The Song Passed Out Of Their Mind (07:11)
06 - Fallout (08:18)

Line-up:
Masahiko Satoh - acoustic piano, Rhodes piano, Korg synthesizer, percussion
Dave Liebman - soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, alto flute
Ryo Kawasaki - electric bass guitar
Francisco Centeno - electric bass
Harvey Mason - drums
Rubens Bassini - percussion
Randy Brecker - trumpet
Tom Malone - trombone
Dave Taylor - bass trombone

Masahiko Satoh & Soundbreakers - Amalgamation (1971)

This preposterous piece of psychedelic avant-jazz sounds like the work of aliens, each with only one foot in our universe. Propelled by cacophonous brassy blasts, volleys of machine-gunning, ecstatically 'Light Fantastic' rhythms and moments of Teo Macero-style 'Mixing Concrète' (during which the whole track becomes consumed by waves of new sound); the result is the most singular mash-up of inappropriate sounds any listener is ever likely to hear. Over two side-long tracks, shaman Masahiko Satoh sends us through a sonic mind-field, baffling our senses and our sense of gravity. Located at the centre of Amalgamation's giddy sessions was the frantic Detroit drumming of hard-bop legend Louis Hayes, whose role it was to play the bubbling ever unfolding fundament on which Masahiko Satoh's whole trip proceeded, as though the rhythm section were a magic carpet magically pulled out from under the feet of the other performers. Over this rhythmic shaking, Satoh scattered Hammond organ around and ring-modulated his Fender Rhodes piano solos (Roland built three especially for the record), added lead guitar from 'super session' legend Kimio Mizutani, trumpets and sax from Mototeru Takagi, scat singing from Kayoko Itoh, and strings from the Wehnne Strings Consort.
by Julian Cope in JAPROCKSAMPLER

Styles:
Avant-Garde
Jazz-Rock
Fusion

Tracks:
Part 1 (15.50)
Part 2 (21.18)

Line-up:
Shungo Sawada - Guitar
Masaoki Terekawa - Bass
Louis Haynes - Drums
Kimio Mizutani - Guitar
Hiro Yanagida - Organ
D.D. Dickson - Trombone
Jochen Stadt - Trombone
Jackie Hermann - Trumpet
Sabu Toyozumi - Drums
Masahiko Satoh - Keyboards, Percussion
Hideaki Sakurai - Drums, Percussion, Voice
Mototeru Takagi - Woodwinds
Kayoko Ishu - Voice
Whenne Strings Consort - Strings

Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Heird: Masahiko Satoh - Yamataifu (1972)

The greatest cosmic jazz album ever made? The pursuit of Krautrock’s highest accolades armed only with an acoustic jazz orchestra and a single ring-modulator? The Dawning of Humanity’s earliest ages as filtered? YAMATAI-FU is all of these things and more, a spell-binding and iconoclastic work the like of which has never before been encountered. Hot on the heels of the hard-bop drumfuelled kosmiche classic Amalgamation, and once again highly inspired by his collaborations with experimental pianist Wolfgang Dauner, Masahiko Sato next delivered this huge three-part score for Toshiyuki Miyama & New Heard Orchestra, in which drummer Masaru Hiromi became the lynchpin for its entire monumental groove. Indeed, it’s difficult to image how much weight the drummerwould have lost over the course of this mighty session. Around Togashi’s flailing Philly Joe Jones-meets-Klaus Schultze drum insanity, the composer built a series of highly arranged and ever unfolding brass pieces (sometimes cacophonus/sometimes sweet) that united more cosmic jazz in the style of his own Amalgamation together with elements of fullflight Archie Shepp on the title track of his Yasmina, A Black Woman. Over this bizarre mix, Satoh added his own heavily ring-modulated electric piano, sending out Ur-sparks and shards of sonic light into the heavens with this primitive electronic device, kicking Christian Vander’s underachieving butt and creating a proto-Cosmic Jokers work in the process. Side one contained the single epic ‘Ichi’ (First), while side two was split into ‘Ni’ (Second) and ‘San’ (Third). The whole album is a righterous ducking for those who believe the Japanese never get anywhere first.
by Julian Cope in JAPROCKSAMPLER

Style:
Free-Jazz
Avant-Garde
Hard-Bop

Tracks:
01 - Ichi (19:19)
02 - Ni (12:15)
03 - San (04:54)

Line-up:
Masahiko Satoh - Electric Piano, Composed By, Arranged By
Toshiyuki Miyama - Conductor
Masao Kunisada - Bass
Masaru Hiromi - Drums
Kozaburo Yamamoto - Guitar
Yoshinobu Imashiro - Piano
Kazumi Oguro, Shinji Nakayama - Alto Sax
Miki Matsui - Baritone Sax
Kiyoshi Saito, Shoji Maeda - Tenor Sax
Masamichi Uetaka, Seiichi Tokura, Takeshi Aoki, Teruhiko Kataoka - Trombone
Bunji Murata, Kenichi Sano, Koji Hadori, Kunio Fujisaki - Trumpet