Teiji Ito - King Ubu (1998)

The first release of Ito's original 1961 recordings, authorized by the composer's estate.

Teiji Ito was one of contemporary music's most elusive mavericks. Born in Tokyo in 1935, he moved to NY at the age of six, and by 1952, at the age of seventeen, he was already composing music for the influential avant-garde film work of Maya Deren. Accompanying her to Haiti in 1955, Ito learned ceremonial and secular drumming techniques from the legendary Haitian musician Coyote. Applying these principles to his knowledge of traditional Japanese music, contemporary classical and African traditions, Ito's scores are a shocking precursor to today's cutting-edge composers. King Ubu, originally written for a 1961 NY production of Alfred Jarry's pre-dadaist masterpiece, is a delightful and eclectic score filled with sly humor and ingenious dramatic effects. Intermixing a wide range of traditional and ethnic instruments, all of which are performed with great skill by the composer himself on this rare original recording, Ito's score to King Ubu establishes him as one of the most extraordinary and personal composers in the NY underground.