You wait for each note to fall as if on cotton candy. Melody, harmony and silence complement each other, creating a memorable experience. Kikuchi’s absorption of jazz’s history is on display everywhere here.Throughout both sides of the album, the sound of the piano is extraordinary. Even though a digital or analog source is not identified, every nuance of the piano’s personality has been captured by the fine engineering of Rick Kwan, with an outstanding transfer to vinyl assured by the equally fine mastering of Alex Bonney. Although no pressing plant is identified, the dead-quiet surfaces of the weighty LP enable the listener to bask in the overwhelming sonorities created by Kikuchi’s lithe keyboard touch and pedal work. Finally, complementing the quality of the vinyl, the beautifully realized jacket, protective inner sleeve, informative notes and testimonials complete a very special presentation. 5/5 Theaudiobeat

Hanamichi is Masabumi Kikuchi's final studio album, before his passing in 2015. Recorded in New York City's Klavierhaus, on one their finest Steinways. A dialogue between his free playing and song forms, Kikuchi is at the pinnacle of his craf

Hanamichi was recorded in just a couple of days. The piano was a beautiful vintage Steinway, and while he often complained about the level of his playing in later years this piano brought out something deep inside of Masabumi Kikuchi: “[It’s} a culmination–distilling what he’d learned and figured out along the long road he’d traveled.” Known affectionately as Poo, Kikuchi had a distinct way with his pedals, carefully coaxing out the notes, showing everyone that he not only understood multi-dimensional dynamics and sought those skills with others. (He met his match with Motian, also well-versed in that technique.)

The musical choices are sublime, of course, with an epic interpretation of Gershwin’s “Summertime” that travels enormous distances in just over 11 minutes, and two different versions of “My Favorite Things,” captured at different times during the recording sessions, under different circumstances and moods. At one point in Hanamichi, Masabuma Kikuchi improvises for just over five minutes, and the melodies are strikingly compact and fleshed out.

Fortunately these moments were captured with poise and sensitivity from producer Sun Chung, once with ECM, and now heading his own label of Red Hook Records. This is a thoroughly spellbinding solo piano performance, and it’s become part of my regular rotation for evaluating gear