Gagaku & Beyond

Gagaku & Beyond is an album by jazz flautist Herbie Mann featuring shakuhachi player Minoru Muraoka which was recorded in Japan in 1974 but only released on Atlantic Records' subsidiary label, Finnadar, in 1976.

Reception

Allmusic awarded the album 3 stars stating: "Gagaku & Beyond had Mann working in the world music fusion genre with great success long before new age or "world music" were ever marketing catch phrases....this is, along with Mann's more soul- and bossa-oriented recordings, one of his most essential works: groundbreaking, heartrendingly beautiful, and full of deep, contemplative soul".

Track listing

"Shomyo " – 14:23
"Mauve Over Blues" – 12:59
"Kurodabushi " – 5:25
"Etenraku" – 8:50
"Gagaku and Beyond" – 7:21

Personnel

Herbie Mann – flute
Pat Rebillot – keyboards
Sam Brown – guitar
Tony Levin – bass
Steve Gadd – drums

With:

On tracks 1–3 – Minoru Muraoka and His New Dimension:
*Minoru Muraoka – shakuhachi
*Yosei Sato – shō
*Eriko Kuramoto, Harumi Nakamura, Kazuko Tsubamoto – koto
*Somei Sasaki – shamisen
*Kisuku Katada – o-daiko
*Hiromitsu Katada – taiko
On track 1 – Modern Shomyo Study Group:
*Junsen Kitani, Junsho Matsumoto, Kenei Muramatsu, Ryusho Tsurutaka – vocals
On track 4 – Ono Gagaku Society:
*Ryoya Ono – leader
*Goro Ibeke – gaku so
*Akihiko Ue – gaku-biwa
*Yoshio Togi – hichiriki
*Kiyohiko Yamada – ryūteki
*Shigeru Iwanami – shō
*Tkashi Ono – shōko
*Kiichiro Togi – taiko