Kaoru Abe - Partitas - Unfinished
A two disc set of four improvisational solo alto saxophone pieces, all titled "The Well Tempered Alto Saxophone Suite" followed by a Greek symbol (α, β, γ, or δ, to be exact). He's full of s
hit. While his playing is a little more restrained than say, his work with Masayuki Takayanagi, it still grows to shrieky and raucous improvisations. That's not to say that there aren't moments when Abe falls into a more sultry and pleasant direction with his playing, though; there are plenty of those moments. Albums like this are what free improvisation is all about. Abe is pretty fuc
king good at his instrument, but his mannerisms and phrasing don't necessarily sound classically trained. It's really Abe's passion that makes this such a unique listening experience. There are solo saxophone albums by artists who are technically better than Abe (Braxton's "For Alto" or Ken Vandermark's "Mark on the Water", for example), but they never really reach Abe's style of raw emotive discharge.
Anyway, most of you guys will probably think this is just boring wankery. It's one of the better wankfests around though.