Masayoshi Urabe live at the Instal festival, Glasgow, 2004
Masayoshi Urabe (浦邊 雅祥, Urabe Masayoshi, born 1965) is a Japanese musician, best known for his intensely physical style of free improvisation on the alto saxophone and his deployment of long, laden silences. He has sometimes been compared to the late Japanese free jazz altoist
Kaoru Abe. He has played with many underground musicians in Japan, including
Chie Mukai (
Ché-SHIZU),
Kan Mikami (Sanjah),
Hiroshi Hasegawa (
Astro,
C.C.C.C.), Junko (
Hijokaidan) and the psychedelic rock group
Kousokuya. Recently he formed the group Sanjah, with folk singer
Kan Mikami and drummer
Toshi Ishizuka. He also performs with the Paris-based dancer
Yukiko Nakamura.
Discography
Solo
Solo LP/CD (PSF, 1996)
Ju A Brute 2LP (no label, 2000)
Rock n Roll Breathing video (There, 2001)
Urklang CD (Tiliqua, 2001)
Soingyokusaiseyo LP (Elevage de Poussiere, 2002)
Ware wa seidai no kyojo zo CD (PSF, 2003)
V.A., Amaterasu 2CD (Fractal, 2003)
V.A., Undecided CD (PSF, 2004)
V.A., Somethings #1 CD (Last Visible Dog, 2007)
真夏の旗 [The Flag of Midsummer] CD (PSF, 2008)
Collaborations
Nazareth CD w/Ché-SHIZU (PSF, 1993)
The Dark Spot CD w/Kousokuya (PSF, 1997)
Duo 1988 LP w/Hiroshi Hasegawa (Siwa, 1999)
Masayoshi Urabe & Gary Smith CD w/
Gary Smith (Paratactile, 2001)
Dual Anarchism LP w/Chie Mukai (Siwa, 2002)
Dual Anarchism video w/Chie Mukai (There, 2002)
Chi no kioku video w/Yuji Itsumi (PSF, 2003)
V.A., PSF & Alchemy 20th Anniversary Live CD w/Junko (PSF, 2005)
Musen/Izu CD w/Sanjah (PSF, 2006)
Samples
Urabe Breathes on
Cory Allen's album Gesemi Tropisms (Bremsstrahlung, 2005)
References
Interview. Opprobrium, issue 5, July 1998. pp. 3–10. (English)