P.S.F., 1999, stan bdb-

New CD issue of what was previously a limited LP-only PSF release. "Urabe is doubtless an unknown name to most of you. Here's the beef -- he's a young (well, thirty one) alto saxophonist. Born in Tokyo, he first took up the alto sax in 1985, mostly concentrating on solo work. In recent years his base of operations has been the famous Kidoairaki Art Hall (which also played host to Masayki Takayanagi in his later years), just down the road from the Modern Music shop. This album was recorded there on May 22nd of this year. I believe that this is his first release. Urabe basically concentrates on the relationship between sound and silence, and those mysterious spaces in between ('ma'). All extraneous notes/sounds are stripped away, leaving Urabe with a very minimal (though strong) sound. High keening notes, sparkling clusters of notes hand in space, enfolding and defining. This is great, adventurous alto work, not immediately comparable to anyone else -- and pretty distant from the work of other Japanese altoists like Tamio Shiraishi or the late Kaoru Abe. Looks like PSF may well have unearthed another great individual talent." -- Alan Cummings.