Notes by PEK

I’ve been thinking a bit about early times in my music career recently, so I dug through my hard drives and found the one that has the digitized files of my early work from 84 to 92. Most of it is not well recorded, but there are some studio sessions and some things better recorded by Space on a 4-channel Reel to Reel recorder.

After moving from California to Boston to attend the Berklee School of Music in 1989, my most important mentor in free improvisation was Masashi Harada. Masashi is a gifted improvisor who used piano, percussion, voice, dance, and visual imagery in his art making. For a few years we played music constantly in different settings and Masashi recorded everything. Some of the sets were at his loft apartment with a whole bunch of different players from the scene, but we also had several bands. Masashi was the leader of this scene, but I was his helper and a constant participant.

Mashasi had a nice big loft apartment right next to Fenway Park in Boston. He had an excellent piano and plenty of space for a large percussion set up which included not only drum set but integrated Japanese percussion and other instruments. The room had a wonderful sound that was easy to record with a simple stereo mic and a DAT machine. While I was at Berklee with no day job obligations, I had plenty of time to do sessions in this wonderful space and I was over there probably several times a week on average.

This is a special set. It is the only session in my record of a trio with Masashi, Glynis and me although there are plenty of sets with the three of us embedded into larger groups. It is the earliest example in my 35-year history with Glynis of us playing in such a small ensemble setting. This performance is a template for the birth of Leap of Faith 5 or so years later, my long-term collaboration with Glynis, and especially it previews the Leap of Faith Edition at the beginning of the Contemporary Period with drummer Yuri Zbitnov in 2015.

PEK – 10/31/2026

Constructed Photo Works by Masashi Harada