Yosuke Yamashita

The Yosuke Yamashita Trio came to Europe for the first time in 1974, played Moers, and according to the festival's director got a standing ovation that lasted over an hour. Chiasma is from the second visit: the Heidelberg Jazztage, 6 June 1975, recorded by Carlos Albrecht, produced by Horst Weber, and released by MPS in 1976. The same month produced Distant Thunder with Manfred Schoof for Enja.

Yamashita on piano, Akira Sakata on alto, Takeo Moriyama on drums. No bass. Six pieces in forty minutes. MPS's own note walks through them: Double Helix is a piano and drums duet; Nita a piano solo with, of all things, a walking bass line; on the title track "all hell breaks loose" between drums, piano and alto; Horsetrip is another piano-drums duet; Introhach is Moriyama's drum solo; and Hachi, fourteen minutes, is the trio at full stretch. Burning Ambulance describes Sakata as an insanely hard-blowing saxophonist who can solo at length without flagging, and notes that most of the trio's catalogue was recorded live at European festivals like this one.

This was the last year Moriyama was in the band. Chiasma and Hachi stayed in the repertoire; Sakata and Moriyama were still playing both in 1986, as a duo.

Japanese CD edition from Solid's MPS series.