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Title: Koto Jazz with a World Beat
Review: Having been listening to the Asian jazz of Nguyn L, I returned to my copy of the Murasaki Ensemble's album Magenta and was still pleased. A local Bay Area group led by Shirley Muramoto on koto with Alex Baum on bass, Matt Eakle on flute, Jeff Massanari, guitar, and Vince Delgado's varied ethnic percussion, their light-hearted, lyrical melodies are somewhat akin to Andreas Vollenweider's New Age jazz but are more mainstream jazz with a Japanese flavor. The group produced only a couple albums in the mid 1990s, but they still perform from time to time. [Murasaki and the other musicians also play independently with other groups.]
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