SOFT MOUNTAIN

When the sadly departed two giants Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper takes time of a Soft Works tour to do two pieces of improvised jazz together with two Japanese musicians I should had known who is (I am still new to this scene... but still........ shame on me !), the result is by default something special.

Elton Dean solos over the other three's bass, drums and tangents. The two Japanese musicans names is Yoshida Tatsuya and Hoppy Kamiyama. Both are involved in Damonji and I have some of their albums, ready to be enjoyed and reviewed.

The end result is dense, very intense and not immediate accessible jazz. The music here is bordering to being avant-garde too. The music is improvised and hardly rehearsed. To my knowledge, it was not meant for release either although recorded. But thankfully, it has been released in Japan.

The music here is like Soft Machine meets Japanese jazz. And that is exactly what it physically was too. If you love jazz, this is an excellent album for you. I am a Soft Machine fan, but still only dipping my toes into the rest of the jazz scene. For me, this is a bit of an alien album. But it is still a very good album which I will enjoy more and more in the years to come. I just need some more time....

3.5 stars