Ishii: Sō-Gū II - Takemitsu: Cassiopeia
1972
Ishii: Sō-Gū II - Takemitsu: Cassiopeia
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A pioneering figure on percussion and in composition, Stomu Yamashta earned recognition through his boundary-crossing blend of jazz-rock fusion, classical forms, and Japanese percussion practices. After initial projects in Japan during the 1960s, he attracted worldwide notice via releases such as Floating Music in 1972 and One by One in 1974, along with sessions featuring his Go ensemble alongside Steve Winwood, Klaus Schulze, and additional musicians. He also established the forward-looking Red Buddha Theatre company and composed scores for several respected motion pictures from directors including Akira Kurosawa, Nicolas Roeg, and Robert Altman. Inventor of the stone percussion instrument known as the Sanukit, Yamashta shifted focus toward atmospheric works shaped by environmental themes, among them Sea & Sky from 1985, the Solar Dream series, and Listen to the Future, Vol. 1 in 2001. Further partnerships produced Bergmál in 2006 with Ragnhildur Gísladóttir and Sjón, while Purple appeared in 2017.
Born Tsutomu Yamashita in Kyoto, Japan, in 1947, Yamashta was raised in a musical household whose father served as director of the Kyoto Asahi Philharmonic. Displaying prodigious talent, he began piano lessons at age five and chose percussion as his primary focus by age nine. He joined the Kyoto Academy of Music in 1960 and soon launched a professional career that included appearances with both the Osaka Philharmonic and the Kyoto Asahi Philharmonic. Filmmakers took note as well, with Akira Kurosawa engaging him for the soundtrack of the 1961 release Yojimbo. Additional early film contributions encompassed work on Akira Ifukube’s 1963 production Tale of Zatoichi. The next year he moved to New York City on a full scholarship to Juilliard, where an interest in jazz developed, prompting a transfer to Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy for continued training. After Interlochen he completed his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Throughout this period he performed regularly, adopted the name Stomu Yamashta, and collaborated with artists such as Hans Werner Henze, Thor Johnson, and Toru Takemitsu. In 1969 he gained broader visibility in a prominent concert with Seiji Ozawa and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
During the early 1970s Yamashta launched his Red Buddha Theatre company in Japan before relocating the ensemble to Europe for joint projects with British composer and conductor Peter Maxwell Davies. Their combined efforts yielded numerous multi-media presentations in London and Paris, and the group was documented on the 1971 album Red Buddha. Further screen assignments included contributions to Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, which starred David Bowie, as well as Davies’s music for Ken Russell’s The Devils and John Williams’s score for Robert Altman’s Images.
Around the same time Yamashta asserted himself as an ambitious instrumentalist through albums such as Floating Music in 1971, The Man from the East in 1973, and One by One in 1974, each integrating jazz, classical, and fusion-rock elements with Japanese, Latin, and wider global traditions. This cross-cultural approach defined the output of Stomu Yamashta’s Go, which debuted on the 1976 album Go featuring prog-rock figures Steve Winwood and Santana co-founder Michael Shrieve. A live recording, Go Live from Paris, followed the same year, succeeded by Go Too in 1977.
By the early 1980s Yamashta had returned to Japan to reassess his path and explore new directions, resulting in the creation of the Sanukit, a hybrid stone instrument blending piano and percussion qualities. Subsequent recordings leaned more ambient and new-age in character, encompassing the synth-oriented Sea & Sky in 1985, the three-volume Solar Dream project across the 1990s, and A Desire of Beauty and Wonder of Stone, Pt. 1 in 1999. Although his release schedule moderated in the 2000s, activity continued with Listen to the Future, Vol. 1 in 2001 and the 2006 collaboration Bergmál alongside Icelandic artists Ragnhildur Gísladóttir and Sjón. Purple arrived in 2017, an expansive work reflecting classical influences.
Born Tsutomu Yamashita in Kyoto, Japan, in 1947, Yamashta was raised in a musical household whose father served as director of the Kyoto Asahi Philharmonic. Displaying prodigious talent, he began piano lessons at age five and chose percussion as his primary focus by age nine. He joined the Kyoto Academy of Music in 1960 and soon launched a professional career that included appearances with both the Osaka Philharmonic and the Kyoto Asahi Philharmonic. Filmmakers took note as well, with Akira Kurosawa engaging him for the soundtrack of the 1961 release Yojimbo. Additional early film contributions encompassed work on Akira Ifukube’s 1963 production Tale of Zatoichi. The next year he moved to New York City on a full scholarship to Juilliard, where an interest in jazz developed, prompting a transfer to Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy for continued training. After Interlochen he completed his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Throughout this period he performed regularly, adopted the name Stomu Yamashta, and collaborated with artists such as Hans Werner Henze, Thor Johnson, and Toru Takemitsu. In 1969 he gained broader visibility in a prominent concert with Seiji Ozawa and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
During the early 1970s Yamashta launched his Red Buddha Theatre company in Japan before relocating the ensemble to Europe for joint projects with British composer and conductor Peter Maxwell Davies. Their combined efforts yielded numerous multi-media presentations in London and Paris, and the group was documented on the 1971 album Red Buddha. Further screen assignments included contributions to Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, which starred David Bowie, as well as Davies’s music for Ken Russell’s The Devils and John Williams’s score for Robert Altman’s Images.
Around the same time Yamashta asserted himself as an ambitious instrumentalist through albums such as Floating Music in 1971, The Man from the East in 1973, and One by One in 1974, each integrating jazz, classical, and fusion-rock elements with Japanese, Latin, and wider global traditions. This cross-cultural approach defined the output of Stomu Yamashta’s Go, which debuted on the 1976 album Go featuring prog-rock figures Steve Winwood and Santana co-founder Michael Shrieve. A live recording, Go Live from Paris, followed the same year, succeeded by Go Too in 1977.
By the early 1980s Yamashta had returned to Japan to reassess his path and explore new directions, resulting in the creation of the Sanukit, a hybrid stone instrument blending piano and percussion qualities. Subsequent recordings leaned more ambient and new-age in character, encompassing the synth-oriented Sea & Sky in 1985, the three-volume Solar Dream project across the 1990s, and A Desire of Beauty and Wonder of Stone, Pt. 1 in 1999. Although his release schedule moderated in the 2000s, activity continued with Listen to the Future, Vol. 1 in 2001 and the 2006 collaboration Bergmál alongside Icelandic artists Ragnhildur Gísladóttir and Sjón. Purple arrived in 2017, an expansive work reflecting classical influences.
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