Improvised Music from Japan / Independent Labels in Japan

Omba Records

Jazz critic Yoshiyuki Kitazato launched the independent, free magazine ORT LIVE in April of 1987. The magazine contained interviews of musicians and producers, translations of improtant musical essays featured in foreign music magazines, and music information and articles hard to find in the mainstream mass media. The magazine came to an end after 24 issues; but Kitazato has continued to release tapes and CDs by talented, innovative Japanese musicians on his own record label, Omba Records, which he started in 1988. In his various activities, he emphasizes the value of borderless networking on a grassroots level; and of all kinds of creative music--including free improvisation--which will help open up a new era. There have been no releases on this label since the CD Altered Egos came out in 1998.

Audiocassettes

CDs


Last updated: November 22, 2008