Mototeru Takagi (28 December 1941 - December 2002) was a Japanese tenor saxophone player, known for playing in a distinctive and powerful free jazz

Free jazz

Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...

 style. He played with many of the most important Japanese free groups and musicians during the seventies, such as ESSG and those of Masahiko Togashi, Motoharu Yoshizawa

Motoharu Yoshizawa

Motoharu Yoshizawa was an influential Japanese bassist known for playing in a distinctive free jazz and free improvisation style, sometimes deploying electronics and using the unusual self-designed five-string bass he referred to as the "Tiritack".Yoshizawa collaborated with innumerable musicians...

 and Masayuki Takayanagi

Masayuki Takayanagi

Masayuki 'Jojo' Takayanagi was a Japanese jazz / free improvisation / noise musician. He was active in the Japanese jazz scene from the late 1950s. In the 1960s he formed New Directions , which recorded several albums throughout the 70s...

.

History

Takagi was born in Osaka in 1941, but grew up in Yokohama. During his younger years, he spent time in the bands of players like Charlie Ishiguro and Hisashi Sakurai, but only really began developing his distinctive free style when he joined the Motoharu Yoshizawa Trio in 1968. The following year he joined Togashi's Quartet and ESSG. After Togashi's accident, Takagi played briefly with Masayuki Takayangi's New Direction Unit and in a duo with percussionist Sabu Toyozumi. From November 1973 he spent one year playing in France, returning to Japan in November 1974.
Takagi recorded very few albums as a leader over the course of his career, but he was highly valued as a collaborator by many Japanese jazz, rock and avant-garde musicians.

Discography

We Now Create, w/ Masahiko Togashi Quartet (Victor, 1969)

Deep Sea/Abyss Duo 1969 (Shinkai), w/ Motoharu Yoshizawa (PSF, 1994; recorded 1969)

Isolation, w/ Masahiko Togashi (Columbia, 1971; recorded 1969)

Speed & Space, w/ Masahiko Togashi Quartet (Union, 1969)

Call in Question, w/ Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction (PSF, 1993; recorded 1970)

V.A., 2 to 10 Saxophone Adventure (Phillips, 1970)

V.A., Sensational Jazz '70 (Columbia, 1970)

Come back to Foster, w/ 1864 Cotton Field Rock Band (Victor, 1970)

Amalgamation (Kokotsu no Showa Genroku), w/ Masahiko Sato & Soundbreakers (Liberty, 1971)

V.A., Genya (Soseki, 1971)

V.A., Inspiration & Power 14 (1973)

Jazz a Maison du Japon Paris, w/ Kako Quartet (1974)

Origination, w/ Toshiyuki Tsuchitori (ALM, 1975)

Mothra Freight! (Interval, 1975)

Waterweed, w/ Sabu Toyozumi (1975)

Story of Wind Behind Left, w/ Masahiko Togashi Quartet (Columbia, 1975)

Meditation Among Us, w/ Milford Graves et al. (Kitty, 1976)

Concrete Voices, w/ EEU (1977)

Talking about Fussa, w/ King Kong Paradise (Tam, 1977)

Duo & Trio, w/ Derek Bailey et al. (Kitty, 1978)

Grow, w/ Koji Kikuchi (Johnny’s Way, 1986)

Kozan, w/ Hirokazu Yamada & Motoharu Yoshizawa (Tiara, 1986)

2001.07.06 (Chitei, 2001)

Domo Arigato Derek Sensei, w/ Henry Kaiser et al. (Balance Point Acoustics, 2006)

External links

• WFMU tribute show to Takagi