Liberski/Yoshida – Troubled Water LP

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Casimir Liberski, pianist, improviser and composer widely recognized in Belgium as one of the most gifted jazz musicians, joins forces with renowned Japanese drummer and composer, Tatsuya Yoshida, founder of the group RUINS, he is considered a monument in the realm of Japanese avant-garde music. This duo brings together two generations and two distinct worlds of sound to deliver free improvisation and syncretic new music on their debut album “Troubled Water”. Ranging from brutal progressive math punk, contemporary free jazz and electro-acoustic experimental, their music can be described as a force of nature – an impermanent angry sea that goes from an impetuous tempest to moments of lull.

The two musicians first met in Brussels a year before COVID, during Yoshida’s tour with his “Sax Ruins” project with female saxophonist Ryoko Ono. Casimir had sat in on their set and from then on started collaborating with both Ryoko and Tatsuya separately. In winter 2022, after Japan had finally reopened its border, Casimir could go to Tokyo where he and Tatsuya performed in a very small club called Thelonious. Thankfully, Tatsuya had the good reflex to record the concert as it gave birth to the album.

Under John Zorn’s clever recommendation, the album was creatively mixed by James Dellatacoma and mastered by Michael Fossenkemper. The visual artwork for the album features a painting by the Belgian artist Pascal Bernier.