snobb
A leading Japanese avant-garde jazz sax player has formally graduated as a marine biologist. "La Mer" is his most unorthodox album, containing Sakata's compositions, recorded for the video program ”The Universe of Mijinko (Water Flea)”. Besides being a soundtrack composer, Akira plays reeds himself with the Harpacticoida trio ("Harpacticoida" is a planktonic or benthic water creature), consisting of Indonesian-Japanese pianist Febian Resa Pane, acoustic bassist Hiroshi Yoshino, and marimba player Kumiko Takara.
The album's music is opposite to almost everything we heard from Sakata on his regular albums. The compositions on "La Mer" are low-tempo, dreamy and soulful. Sakata plays many clarinet and alto solos, almost improvisation-less straight tunes. No trace of his regular harsh sound and screaming free sax can be found here. Febian Resa Pane plays almost chamber piano, and the whole music varies from soulful pop-jazz to almost ambient new age, scented with Japanese folk elements.
The original soundtrack material is completed with "Ballad For Taco (Octpus)" - a melancholic ballad with Sakata soprano sax soloing, it sounds a bit closer to his more regular material.
Originally a self-released edition in 2000, it has been reissued in Germany in 2002 by major label Enja and isn't a rarity anymore. Still, this album will hardly attract Sakata's explosive free-jazz fans and can be interesting mostly for his hot followers/researchers and collectors.