snobb
After excellent collaborative avant-fusion album "Dema" and live piano duet with Yamashita (both recorded in 1973), Masahiko Satoh remained silent for almost three years. It was a strange time on Japanese jazz scene - after free and experimental jazz glorious years (1969-1973)situation radically changed - some artists switched towards growing popularity of fusion, others - to pop-jazz. Most experimental musicians were generally out of place - short-lived Japanese funk-jazz still didn't come, jazz avant-garde dramatically lost popularity and time for brutal avant-rock, Japanese main experimental scene for upcoming years, will come after some years only.
Masahiko returned back to his experiments with piano and electronic devices, influenced by his collaboration with Wolfgang Dauner. To say truth, in series of three solo piano albums Satoh released in 1976 only one, third one contains electronic effects. Two first are just real solo piano albums and contains minimalist neo-academic compositions with just few touches of jazz improvisation (and lot of "negative space" - silence elements). Third album in series is subtitled "MultiSpheroid" and contains use of ring modulators and synthesizers, but in very limited dozes,mostly filling with light noise pauses between piano sound. Comparing with two previous series' albums,third is slightly more experimental and expressive (still borderline but sounds more "jazzy" in moments). One album-long suite,divided into two parts(because of two sides of original vinyl album).Rarity for Satoh music collectors.