kimio mizutani

through the magic of teague's cd burner, i got to hear a path through haze, the recently reished '71 alb by japanese gtrist kimio mizutani (no relation to les rallizes denudes gtrist takashi mizutani). while les rallizes' music features psychotic paroxysms of psychedelic gtr over simple, catchy bass vamps, mizutani's rec is a good example of early-'70s "jazz-rock" (before the "fusion" tag got applied to what st. lester once referred to as "mahaherbiehancockorea"). some of it -- especially the leader's fuzzed-out gtr tone and the interplay with the electric piano (there's also a string quartet and a woodwind quartet on board) -- reminds me of frank zappa's waka jawaka / grand wazoo period (which i liked). other proximate models: mclaughlin's devotion, or post-kevin ayers soft machine. at any rate, a real fine listen.