Attila Zoller, Masahiko Sato – A Path Through Haze (1972/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Attila Zoller, Masahiko Sato – A Path Through Haze (1972/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 45:41 minutes | 843 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS

Another beautiful MPS session from 1971, featuring legendary post bop guitarist Atilla Zoller and Japanese jazz pianist Masahiko Satoh. It’s “a harmonically challenging and at times tonally ambiguous, though relatively straight ahead with lots of delightful free wheeling interplay between Satoh and Zoller”.

Atilla Zoller was touring Japan with fellow guitar greats Kenny Burrell and Jim Hall when he first played with pianist Masahiko Sato. Zoller exclaimed, “From the first sound on we were completely together, as if we had known each other for years.” Besides his fame as a player, Sato is known for his arranging and composing, having worked on the albums of such stars as Nancy Wilson and Art Farmer. Although often labeled “free jazz”, this album is everything but. Meet is a hard-driving up-tempo quartet adventure. On Sazo Zoller and Sato play off each other in an improvised dance for two. The Appalachian folk song Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair is transformed into a pulsating modernistic piece featuring Sato’s trio. Close Up gets personal with Zoller and Sato again exploring in duo. Together Not Alone is exactly what it says, with the two improvising off the changes of the standard Alone Together. The title piece is the quartet’s majestic modal excursion into the light. With masterful improvisations and an integral familiarity that borders on the extrasensory, this is a musical path well worth taking.

Tracklist:
1. Attila Zoller, Masahiko Sato – Meet (09:03)
2. Attila Zoller, Masahiko Sato – Sazo (03:57)
3. Attila Zoller, Masahiko Sato – Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair (06:30)
4. Attila Zoller, Masahiko Sato – Close Up (03:30)
5. Attila Zoller, Masahiko Sato – Together, Not Alone (08:51)
6. Attila Zoller, Masahiko Sato – A Path Through Haze (13:48)

Personnel:
Attila Zoller – guitar
Masahiko Sato – piano
Yasuo Arakawa – bass
Masahiko Ozu – drums

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