By the late 1950s, the trumpet and the saxophone took over as lead jazz instruments. Jazz flutists and clarinetists didn’t have a chance against the cheek-busting likes of Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane. So many of them left US jazz clubs and flew to Asia. Flutist Paul Horn, for example, spent many years in India studying native spiritual and musical traditions, gaining access to pretty much anywhere he wanted to play his flute (like the Taj Majal, The Great Pyramids, The Magic of Findhorn, etc.). Similarly, clarinetist Tony Scott moved around Southeast Asia studying local folk music and performing with native musicians throughout the early 60s.
These two musicians (among others who adopted Eastern practices to create quiet meditative music with typically jazz instrumentation) are the founders of New Age. Scott’s work with Japanese musicians Shinichi Yuize and Hozan Yamamoto to create 1964’s Music for Zen Meditation and Other Joys and Horn’s original 1968 release Inside are prototypical examples of New Age.
So what does this have to do with ESPRIT 空想’s new album ｒｅｌａｘ™? Absolutely nothing. Besides the fact that vaporwave is like the grandbaby of New Age, and also because ｒｅｌａｘ™ is all about meditation, which I’m sure Mr. Scott and Mr. Horn would love.
• ESPRIT 空想: https://www.facebook.com/EspritFantasy
• Fortune 500: http://fortune500.bandcamp.com/album/—2
