Aki Takase
Two For Two
Aki Takase and Han Bennink love the art of dialogue. Bennink is paired for life in a duo with the pianist Misha Mengelberg. Intakt Record also offers a duo recording of Han Bennink with the Zurich pianist Irène Schweizer. After having released five duo CDs at Intakt Records with Silke Eberhard, Lauren Newton, Rudi Mahall, Alexander von Schlippenbach and Louis Sclavis, Aki Takase is now presenting a breathtaking and very entertaining recording with Han Bennink.
Every tone reveals enjoyment and de…
Kasumi
Jazz as the art of dialogue: two of the great musicians of today's jazz from different continents and generations make music sparkle. Born in Osaka in 1948, Aki Takase moved to Berlin where her musical partners included Han Bennink, Evan Parker, Rudi Mahall, David Murray, Louis Sclavis and Fred Frith as well as her husband and pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach. Ingrid Laubrock, born in 1970 in Stadlohn in North Rhine-Westphalia, moved to London at the age of 19 where she studied with the saxop…
Hokusai - Piano Solo
Aki Takase, the Berlin-based pianist, is one of the great personalities of modern jazz. Moments of freedom, form and humour characterize this stylistically versatile avant-gardist, the stubborn virtuoso who toys with jazz traditions. In the year of her 70th birthday, Aki Takase was honoured with The Berlin Jazz Prize. Recorded over two days at the Sendesaal Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, the album includes some pieces captured live during the award ceremony, and some recorded in a studio setting i…
Four Hands Piano Pieces
"Two grand pianos, quasi two orchestras, driven by two of the most distinguished personalities of contemporary jazz: Aki Takase and Alexander von Schlippenbach -- they are having a conversation within the medium of sound. But they complement one another in a way that makes any stylistic differentiation irrelevant. With all the transparency in the course of their playing the dialogical principle opens out into a holistic piano language. What counts is freedom and the responsibility to create some…
Signals
**CD edition** Alexander von Schlippenbach: piano; Aki Takase: piano; DJ Illvibe: turntables; Paul Lovens: drums. Recorded by Rainer Robben at AudioCue, Berlin. Lovens joins the Lok 03 trio of Schlippenbach, Takase, and DJ Illvibe for the follow-up to their 2005 debut. Mastered by Beat Halberschmidt. Artwork by Philip Hillers. Liner notes by Yoko Tawada.
Live at Cafe Amores
Edition of 300. Featuring Alexander von Schlippenbach and Aki Takase both on piano, recorded at Cafe Amores in Yamaguchi. Japan in August of 1995. Although Ms. Takase and Mr. Schlippenbach have been married for many years (she moved to Berlin in 1987), it seems as if their music collaborations began in the early 1990’s. There are some half dozen or so discs of duos (1993, ’94 & 2014), a trio/quartet (from 2005), the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (BCJO) (1993 & 1996), collaborations with Sve…
A week went by
Aki Takase's visit to the North East of England resulted in two new fruitful encounters which Chris Trent was on hand to document. The duo with alto saxophonist John Tchicai and the trios with John Edwards (double bass) and Tony Levin (drums) are augmented by solo pieces all taken from the Music Outside Festival of 2008."Creating an arc from disparate, spontaneously generated materials; positing authenticity that recognises the dynamic between jazz and improvised music, A WEEK WENT BY confirms A…