Ha, I love Watazumi stories! Definitely a legend in his own time. I saw him
live just once in the seventies, doing one of his lecture/demonstration
things with Maezumi-roshi (I think) acting as interpreter. I felt his
playing was a valuable corrective to the prevailing view of shakuhachi as
an evocative, quiet, atmospheric instrument suitable for perfume
commercials. His playing was like late Coltrane--fierce and spiritual, with
few concessions to "musicality." He was inspiring--made clear the raw power
of breath and vibration and reminded us musical types that there's more
important work than seeking the world's approval via benign pretty sounds.
That Legacy CD is a weird one, all right. They took an old album of
Watazumi's (which actually had pretty good distribution way back when) and
stuck it together with all that shino-bue stuff and didn't bother to credit
ANY artists in the barely coherent and irrelevant liner notes. And although
I absolutely love Watazumi's playing on it, many may not. My wife, a
shakuhachi fan, heard it once and hated it. Oh well, nobody ever claimed he
was the world's best shakuhachi player, just the best shakuhachi player who
denied being a musician, drank his own urine, and beat himself regularly
with large sticks.
Couldn't find that "Rhythms of the Heart" video in the Rhino catalog. Do
you have any more information on it? Would really love to hear what he had
to say about Cage...
Phil.
__________________
Phil James
pjames@echonyc.com
-----Original Message-----
From: BR [SMTP:nemo@gain-ny.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 1997 2:45 PM
To: shakuhachi
Subject: Watazumi
Dear Shakuhachians,
My name is Brian Ritchie, and I'm a new subscriber to this list. I've
been studying Kinko Ryu shakuhachi for a year and a half with James
Nyoraku Schlefer in N.Y.C. I've also taken some workshops with Ronnie
Seldin and Kurahashi Yoshio.
While perusing the archives of this list I noticed some items about
Watazumi and I thought I'd pass on a few bits of info about him. There
is a CD on the market featuring Watazumi. It is called "The Art of the
Japanese Bamboo Flute". It is on the Legacy International label #cd 306.
Unfortunately neither Watazumi nor the word Shakuhachi are mentioned
anywhere on the package! Watazumi is on the cover blowing an immense
shakuhachi,probably 3 1/2 or 4 feet long. There are 21 songs of which
the first 12 are some other kind of flute playing what sounds like folk
music. The last 9 are Watazumi. I compared a copy of Watazumi's
discography with the tunes here and they are the same pieces in the same
order. Watazumi's playing is very interesting. He has a rough tone, and
semi-improvisational feeling to some of the music. Sound quality is
shockingly hideous. Perhaps Watazumi's powerful blowing shattered the
microphone diaphram, because that's what it sounds like. Tadashi Tajima
has recorded a few of the same pieces on his fantastic"Shingetsu" CD.
Tajima's playing has a more delicate and refined approach. In fact, none
of the Watazumi school players I've heard actually sound like Watazumi,
in my opinion. Watazumi plays a piece identified as Kyorei, but this
bears no resemblance to the Kinko and Meian school piece of the same
name. He plays flutes as long as a 3.3 on this recording.
There is also a video available. I think it is part of a series called
"Rhythms of the Heart" I don't have it anymore, but I think it was put
out by Rhino Records. The Japanese video of the series has Watazumi on
the cover. There is an interview with him (if I recall he used it as an
opportunity to ridicule John Cage) some footage of him bonking himself
on the head with a Jo stick, and a brief shakuhachi performance which
sounds like a free jazz freakout. Very entertaining.
I picked up both of these at HMV in NY, and I've also seen the video at
Tower.
I also heard a funny story about Watazumi from my friend Steve
Nelson-Raney, who in turn heard it from jazz legend Steve Lacy.
Lacy,(indisputably the greatest soprano saxophonist since Sidney Bechet)
was in Japan and wanted to take some lessons from Watazumi. Watazumi
asked him to sing a tone. Watazumi was less than impressed with Lacy's
anemic vocalizing, started laughing and called his wife into the room,
instructing her to demonstrate how it's done. Watazumi's wife proceeded
to emit a note the force of which practically slammed Lacy against the
wall. The lessons went on from there and this is when Lacy realized he'd
have to give up smoking if he wanted to blow at full efficiency.
Regards,
Brian Ritchie
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