"Lee actually adds another dimension to our cultural landscape, like a unique plant in a rainforest,
because of the singular aesthetic of the shakuhachi (bamboo flute) in Japanese traditional music....Like many of the
finest and most interesting musicians operating today, Lee uses a given tradition as a springboard rather than allowing it to become
a prison."
Sydney Morning Herald
"Affecting, moving, admirable, the performing techniques involved,
especially the breath control, defy belief".
International Herald Tribune
"..a spellbinding performance of the traditional "San'an"....The fascinating aspect of this ancient art is that the extraneous by-products of tone production, such as breathiness,
overblown and split notes are part of the expressive lexicon, something which has olny been exploited in our tradition in jazz
and by the modernist avant-garde."
Sydney Morning Herald
"...atmospheric, even spell-binding music".
"Echoes of eternal time...haunting".
New York Times
"He is, by any standards, a remarkable musician with an amazing command of fractional inflections of tones,
achieved with a wide range of finger and breath attacks on every note."
"... Beautifully evocative sounds".
Sydney Morning Herald
"Lee could serve as any performer's model in his ability to capture the attention of his audience immediately and straightforwardly".
The Australian
"...a superb musician and an innovative and prolific composer." "The shakuhachi is a transcendentally beautiful instrument and
Lee's playing has an emotional and meditative power which overwhelms his obvious technical expertise".
Sydney Morning Herald
"Riley Lee's tonal control is inescapably uncanny". "Most assuredly a master-player of the shakuhachi".
24 Hours (ABC Radio Guide)
"...quietly powerful"
Newport Daily News, USA
"...outstanding eloquence on the shakuhachi"
Sydney Morning Herald
"Lee's shakuhachi music has an unusually soft, lyrical sound, which offers a feeling of meditative beauty".
Japan Times, Tokyo
"...Strangely haunting... seductive"
Honolulu Star Bulletin
"... Exotic sound"
Newsweek
"His natural musical sensitivity combined with a carefully nurtured technique make him an exciting and delightful performer".
Honolulu Academy of Arts
"Riley Lee played...with unutterably subtle sensibility"
Sydney Morning Herald
"SKILLS TO FORE IN SALUTE TO JAPAN"
20 April 2004
Music of Japan: Karak Percussion with Riley Lee
Judith Wright Centre, 16 April 2004
Reviewed by Gillian Wills
RILEY Lee is a mesmerising figure on stage. His commanding
presence demands attention and inspires confidence.
Opening the concert that explored the aesthetic of Japanese music, the
shakuhachi player, dressed in a Zen Buddhist priest outfit, stunned
the audience in his introductory solo Sagari ha with an amazing display
of overblown and split notes, trills, harmonics and percussive breath
techniques. Manipulating finely shaded reiterations of single tones,
he demonstrated a superb mastery of the very particular and haunting
mellow sound of this instrument.
In Mitsue, Karak Percussion showed how well the blend of this traditional,
spiritual Japanese flute integrates with the marimba and vibraphone.
Changes in metre were frequent in this minimalist-tinged piece, and
the percussion duo segued effortlessly into new sections. The swirling
interplay of shifting cross-rhythmic textures high-lighted unity and
nourished Riley's now brighter, energised sound expressed through a
colourful palette of dynamics.
Kuribayashi's E-mu was originally written for the koto, a 13-stringed
instrument which is strummed or plucked. These techniques were translated
effectively in this arrangement for marimba. The beautifully shaped
and fluid shakuhachi calls and pliable phrasing of the marimba's responses
established Riley and Joyce as a musically responsive partnership and
was the highlight of the first five performances.
Tentative, overlong introductions interrupted the momentum and contrasted
awkwardly with the slick precise professionalism of Karak's playing.
However, in Gravity Whispers, the energy picked up with a refreshing
change of timbre after the bland harmonies and the lulling, repetitive
cycles of accompanying ostinato patterns that dominated the first half.
Joyce's compelling waves of bongo playing provided a pulsating undercurrent
for Riley's full, piercing tone in a more strident, urgent outpouring
of expression and the intertwining meandering vibraphone lines signalled
a deeper engagement.
There followed some special performances including Azuma Jishi, a plaintive,
coaxing shakuhachi solo in which Riley displayed staggering breath control.
Karak Percussion were featured as virtuosic soloists in an extensive
and stormy drumming display and this was particularly exciting in the
snatches of sudden silences and sharp and incisive plunges into new
articulations of rhythm.
Some of the new sounds and tonal explorations discussed earlier emerged,
including a combination of gong reson-ance and driving bongo grooves
sprinkled with metallic sound stops to which Riley stylishly improvised,
slicing through the layers on the piercing, high-pitched yokobue.
Performances varied in intensity, energy and extroversion despite the
con-summate skill of the players. A greater injection of variety in
musical language, a more imaginative distribution of solos and an expanded
range of instrumental colour would have lifted this concert to a consistently
arresting level of delivery.
Courier Mail
