I read a lot about free cats like Otomo Yoshimide and “nu-jazz” like United Future Organization, (and perhaps downthread this can morph into an all-out S/D J-Jazz) but at the moment I’m more interested in the Japanese take on bop & post-bop.
Where should I start with Toshiko Akiyoshi or Atsuya Okuda? Who else should I look to? Did Atsuya Okuda record anything back in his trumpet days?
Don’t know much about either of the artists you specifically asked about, but I’m a fan of Natsuki Tamura and wife Satoko Fujii (trumpet and piano, respectively). They release CDs by the barge-load—about a dozen, if not more, just since 2005. The recent quartet album When We Were There, under Fujii’s name, is a good jumping-in point, and Tamura’s Hada Hada is screaming electronic free jazz (trumpet, guitar, synth, and electronic [but not programmed; they’re pads] drums) is brilliantly hair-raising.
i know nothing about this, but i can vouch for this album:
http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000EHQKA8.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
