MASABUMI KIKUCHI HANAMACHI

THE FINAL STUDIO RECORDING VOL 11

Red Hook Records

Masabumi Kikuchi Hanamachi, solo piano.

Masabumi Kikuchi Hanamachi is a legendary Japanese pianist who died in 2015.  He left behind this stunning and emotional solo piano recording to sooth and tantalize the ears of the listener.  In December of 2013, he recorded several sessions at a Klavierhaus, New York studio. These tracks capture his most contemplative moments of expression on the 88-keys.

Opening with the popular “Manhã de Carnaval,” the solo concert begins and entertains us for over 43-minutes of awesome interpretations of familiar tunes mixed with bursts of improvisational creativity. The music explores Hanamachi’s own temperament and creative freedom at the grand piano.

He interprets “Alone Together” in a pensive, tender way that takes my breath away.  Most of these standard songs are connected to Kikuchi Hanamachi’s formative years as a Tokyo music student. Each presentation is delicately presented, as he lets the overtones ring, like a thought captured and rolling around in his brain before he speaks it.  The tunes unwind, cashmere soft and warm, wrapping my ears in beauty.

Masabumi Kikuchi Hanamachi once said that “…these hands are connected to my soul.”

Perhaps that sums up the entire continuity and expressiveness in this pianists’ final studio recording.  He was born on October 19, 1939. He became quite famous for his unique playing style.  Hanamachi worked with the crème de la crème of jazz musicians, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Elvin Jones, Gary Peacock and collaborated with Gil Evans and Toru Takemitsu. He was a student at the Tokyo Art College High School and his early introduction to jazz came from his second-hand record collection that included Duke Ellington, Miles, and Thelonious Monk.  After he graduated, he joined the Lionel Hampton Japanese Touring Band.  Later, he would establish his own quintet, then was coaxed to the United States by a scholarship to the famed Berklee College of Music.

Kikuchi Hanamachi died of a subdural hematoma on July 6, 2015.  His music lives on, startlingly beautiful and magnificent, to remind us that he was here.  He leaves the world a legacy of jazz creativity and freedom, spewed from his fingertips, from his soul to ours. Just listen to his interpretation of “My Ship.”  It speaks volumes, without words.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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