RED BUDDHA

I had always thought of Yamashta as more of a syntheist than a percussionist, but on this one it's just Stomu on percussion. I've got a couple of better percussion oriented albums - George Gruntz - Percussion Profiles (ECM not available on CD) and The New Percussion Group of Amsterdam - Go Between (with Bill Bruford). Compared to the first two Go session albums, this one's more of a novelty than essential from a prog perspective.

Interestingly enough, if you look at the CD booklet, there's pictures of the original sheet music, so it was a composed affair. He was a student of jazz drumming at Boston's Berklee School of Jazz, but this has more of a world music feel to it. It's been hard to find much more information on the internets (sic sick sick) about it.

Stomu has a decent discography, but last time I checked only the Complete Go sessions, Sea & Sky, and this one are currently in print or at least readily availabe from a U.S. perspective. RB and S&S do make nice bookends to the Go sessions. The later being an orchestral progressive electronic synthesizer dominated affair.

I've only had Red Buddha a couple of months, so maybe one day it will completely hook me. I think it suffers a little from being overshadowed by some of the new music out these days (first half 2007). If you're a percussion nut though, this might just be an excellent addition to your collection. It's been my pleasure to add to the P.A., particularly since the credits were so minimal.