| Tetsu Saitoh and Philip Gelb Wa-On, Nippori April 28th, 2003 |
| Notes (in pencil) on the first set - 35 minutes Tetsu Saitoh worries his bass strings like they have a rash. He has an eloquent beligerance. Petulant stamps of the feet mark time. To start: an arid bird song. The nest on fire. Messiaen titbits strewn in the field. Saitoh is a big man. Untidy. There's a roominess about him and his playing. Slack, flapping. Philip Gelb's technique is less extended. Patient in contrast. They tire of blowing and plucking. The sound of gormless sparrows trapped in a sack. Moves to a mournful drone, then on to jackrabbit skitters and vengeful plucking. Saitoh tugs at the limitations of his instrument. Wringing the neck, too narrow in his large hands. Gelb dismembers his shakuhachi. Its mouthward stump is palmed and gated into service. Saitoh brings metallic quivers, suspended, Cale abrasive. A longer fluted shakuhachi joins for a streak through the woods - abandoned free playing, balloon fondling abrasions on the bass. Saitoh moves to two accordion-boxes (don't know what they're called - but they look like wooden surgeon's bags). They make pretty, wheezy drones. Saitoh kneels on the concrete floor. Damp percussive gongs, beaten but muted. Fine baubles and bells are hung from the four tuning pins at the top of the bass neck. When the bass is de-jingled both players unite in an insistent 'On The Path' -like movement. The bowed outro, when it comes, is superb: mirrored arcs, contraction and expansion. Thick melodic daubs, the dry shakuhachi staying with it til the end. Second half (3 pieces) - 30 minutes In the second half Gelb plays the traditional Jimbo-Sanya. Saitoh plays a solo piece with a rapturous intro and cascadingly ornate passages. Lots of extreme high neck thumb strokes to close after tides of emotive bowing. The final piece is a dizzy, free duel - very light on its feet and evenly contested. I write "charcoal and cream" on the back of a Pharoah Sanders' flyer. Always great to see Tetsu Saitoh. I will never forget the deeply moving set with Yuji Takahashi at the old Deluxe in Azabujuban. Definitely someone whose ragged intensity and flights of abandon are best seen live. He plays fairly frequently in and around Tokyo. There is a link to his homepage below. |
| wa-on and on and on |
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