Sonkei, by Ronin Arkestra

Sonkei

by Ronin Arkestra

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Chillin A collective of musicians that connect many different areas of Jazz music. A piece can be injected with venom by the versatile drumming, or soaked up with harmonies galore and fantastic changes. Very soulful, and at times 4HERO (Two pages), sounding. This is a beautifully produced LP, and when things eventually return to normal I will be looking to see them live. Mark de Clive Lowe has pulled off yet another quality project, this time with the help of great Japanese musicians. Favorite track: Lullabies of the Lost.

yehezkielf It's difficult to choose just one favourite track. So much to love in just one album. Incredible. Favorite track: Tempestuous Temperaments.

James Veil On a Tidal stream of new jazz, this song knocked me off my feet. The riddim!
Favorite track: Fallen Angel.

Bob Hill Illicit Grooves What a fine collection of music on this album. it has a real quality throughout and is certainly going to find itself on The Illicit Grooves Radio Show playlists. A certaintity to find itself in the DJ bag as well. This album has been accompanying me via my MP3 player on all my bus and train journeys this week and I am pretty sure my fellow passengers have enjoyed my rather kinetic reactions to what I'm listening to.

The OldBoy Oh My Word - jazz of the highest order. Whatever genre you're into just take a moment to taste this witches brew. Heard a track from this LP on the Huey show (BBC Radio 6) while driving around one Saturday morning and almost blew my speakers as I just had to keep cranking the volume up. The neighbours gonna hear all about this when it finally drops through my door.

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
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Printed on reverse board. Artwork created with a unique lino print by Jonny Drop.

Includes unlimited streaming of Sonkei via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Lullabies of the Lost 01:31	buy track
2.	Onkochishin 06:45	buy track
3.	Elegy of Entrapment 06:30	buy track
4.	The Art of Altercation 05:54	buy track
5.	Cosmic Collisions 07:48	buy track
6.	Circle of Transmigration 04:31	buy track
7.	Fallen Angel 08:45	buy track
8.	Tempestuous Temperaments 05:06	buy track

about

"A journeying expression of densely rich jazz sonics combined with electronic textural modification" Stamp The Wax

“The Tokyo collective boast players at the forefront of Japan’s jazz and electronic music scenes” Bandcamp Daily

Led by producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Mark de Clive Lowe, Tokyo’s Rōnin Arkestra brings together some of the most supreme and innovative players in Japan’s Jazz and electronic scene, featuring members of Kyoto Jazz Sextet, WONK, Cro-Magnon, Root Soul, Sleepwalker, Sauce81 and Kyoto Jazz Massive.

Formed in 2017, the collective’s debut album ‘Sonkei’, released 27th September via Albert’s Favourites, fuses ’60s deep and spiritual jazz with experimental electronica. The album follows the release of their critically acclaimed debut EP ‘First Meeting’, released earlier this year.

The super-group takes their name from Rōnin, the masterless samurai of a time gone by. Deadly master swordsmen who, without lords to serve, roamed Japan offering their skills wherever needed. As the need for their swordsmanship declined, they became master artisans making textiles, crafting poetry, painting and writing books.

It’s a fascinating evolution that has a parallel to each member in the Rōnin Arkestra collective - master musicians from different bands and clans coming together to create a vagabond band of like-minded musicians - weaving the stories of their lives into a collective sound. “The members of Rōnin Arkestra are some of my favorite musicians anywhere and the way we all come together in battle formation with so much heart and soul is making magic,” says de Clive Lowe.

The musical ‘stories’ contained in ‘Sonkei’ are each named after episodes from Samurai Champloo, an Edo-era, Japanese anime series following two ronin and their charge in search of the elusive "samurai who smells of sunflower”. “It’s a favourite of mine, with its two main characters being such juxtaposed personalities, but their only way to succeed is to work together - the lessons and reflection in that alone is self-evident,” adds de Clive Lowe.

Compositions such as ‘Lullabies of the Lost’ are a deep meditation that transports us simultaneously back hundreds of years into the right here and now, while the horn-heavy, fusion-driven ‘Art of Altercation’, confronts the skill of conflict and confrontation.

Elsewhere, the impulsive and free-flowing ‘Cosmic Collisions’ merges raw grooves and electronics – an interstellar configuration of stars, light years from each other, while ‘Circle of Transmigration’ challenges the never ending circle of life, fusing soaring horns and piano-driven melodies.

Rōnin Arkestra started life with de Clive Lowe wanting to create a project with some of his favourite Japanese musicians, unaware of the sound, shape or vibe it would manifest. Reaching out to his musician friends including Sauce81, they began recording at Red Bull Studio in Tokyo and the chemistry was instant, creating an impulsive sound that blended spiritual jazz and beat sensibilities heavy on the improvisation.

“That’s the beauty of this collective - everyone is so great at what they do, playing to the music rather than their own egos and so open to the moment. That’s the heart of the ‘jazz’ in Ronin Arkestra - being wide open to the moment and letting the music happen as it wants to. In every way there’s so much respect and reverence for the music, and for each other - which is no coincidence given how much Japan is built on an ingrained culture of respect. There’s a beautiful word for this in Japanese: sonkei,” says de Clive-Lowe.

credits

released September 27, 2019

Personnel:
Mark de Clive-Lowe (piano/keys/live electronics/musical direction)
Wataru Hamasaki (sax/flute)
Kohei Ando (sax) * Melraw
Ruike Shinpei (trumpet) * Kyoto Jazz Septet
Sauce81(fx)
Tsuyoshi Kosuga (guitar) * Cro Magnon
Kenichi Ikeda (bass) * Rootsoul
Hikaru Arata (drums) * WONK
Nobuaki Fujii (drums) * Sleepwalker
Shun Ishiwaka (drums)

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about

Ronin Arkestra Tokyo, Japan

Formed in Tokyo in 2017, Ronin Arkestra brings together some of the finest and most creative players in Japan’s Jazz and and electronic scene.

The collective includes members of Kyoto Jazz Sextet, WONK, Cro-Magnon, Root Soul, Sleepwalker, Sauce81, Kyoto Jazz Massive and, of course, band leader Mark de Clive Lowe. ... more

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