François Carrier, Masayo Koketsu, Daisuke Fuwa, Takashi Itani

"Recorded live at Yamaneko-ken, Ogose, Saitama, Japan, in December 2019, Japan Suite includes 6 kind free jazz pieces in Japanese style. The fantastic idea of this album is actually to confront kind free jazz phrasing of François Carrier with the truly free jazz phrasing of Masayo Koketsu. That is actually the second amazing aspect of this album: the battle of two alto saxophones. The opening monumental Uchi-soto - Inside Outside is a great illustration of these aspects. All of this happens with the help of the amazing rhythm section of Daisuke Fuwa and Takashi Itani: imaginative, creative and expressive. Kacho-fugetsu - The Beauties of Nature is notable for the incredible load of joy of joint making music. It is a more traditional track with a 'walking bass' structure, but a completely crazy conversation of altos that develops into an orgiastic free jazz explosion. Rakuyou - Falling Leaves is the most beautiful track of the album - a slow ballad-like track with heart breaking howls of the two saxophonists. Ogose, which is the name of a town, starts with a wonderful bass solo and develops into another tears-squeezing ballad with an eruptive and expressive final . Yuzu - Citron returns to the more powerful climates in terms of saxophone phrasing, keeping, however, a moderate tempo. Kaze to kumo ni noboru - Climb the Wind and Clouds end this outstanding, but unusual record of François: it is without any doubts his music, yet very different from what were used to. A multi-carat diamond!!!" - Maciej Lewenstein

François Carrier - alto saxophone
Masayo Koketsu - alto saxophone
Daisuke Fuwa - double bass
Takashi Itani - drums and percussion

Recorded live at Yamaneko-ken, Ogose, Saitama, Japan, 7th December, 2019
Recorded and mixed by François Carrier
Mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios