Friend of the program Phillip Johnston has released a new album PAGE OF MADNESS, which is a recording made in 1998 with his group at that time The Transparent Quartet. It is the score for the 1927 Japanese silent film by Teinosuke Kinugasa entitled Kurutta Ippeiji ( A Page in Madness). I have spun other groups that Phillip is in: The Microscopic Septet & Fast -N- Bulbous and this release is much different than those. As the artist behind the score, Phillip suggests that the album be listened to in one complete sitting from start to finish as it was written in that format, a complete work separate from individual tunes, where the track titles refer more to the dramatic organization of the film than to an actually “track”. He released the album on his own label, Asynchronous Records…..a first and new experiment as the times seem to dictate such measures. The Transparent Quartet played together for a number of years, and this album is a fine definition to their name, representing some of their finest work as individuals and as collaborators, a group. The group was: Phillip Johnston on soprano and alto saxophone, Joe Ruddick on piano & baritone saxophone/Mark Josefsberg on vibraphone and David Hofstra on bass.
