So, I searched for the artist, John Kaizan Neptune, famous for his romance with the shakuhachi bamboo flute. That led me to his homepage, http://www.jneptune.com, where I found his email address and everything about him and his craft. He's been living in Japan and making his own flutes.
I was bent on finding out how I could get a digital copy of his Mixed Bag album because I had no means to convert the songs from LP to CD, so I wrote him an email. That was in December, 2005.
Last week, I received an answer. I was very pleasantly surprised!
John had been preparing a new album, which will be coming out very soon: Bamboo Magic. He said it was recorded in India and Japan. I'll be looking out for it for sure!
And he sent me some photos! I asked his permission to share them on my blog and he said, yes!
If you haven't heard of John Kaizan Neptune, or his shakuhachi music, you're missing a very essential experience. Trust me.
12 comments:
hello ruby.. just trying to connect..
see me here.. :)
www.noelclimbs.blogspot.com
hey cool!
i was also looking for his old albums recently... i saw a couple of songs... that's all.
nice blog... been awhile.
will be transferring blogs.... it's still messy... but if you wanna check it out it's at choenriquez.com
cho
Thanks for your comments, noel and cho. And thanks for leaving breadcrumbs so I can find you! Much appreciate your dropping by! :)
Hi. I have a CD copy of John Kaizan Neptune's "Mixed Bag." This was released on CD format by Toshiba some ten years back I think. Anyway, if you are interested, I can send you an mp3 file of "Soft Melody" via email. Pls let me know.
Thanks.
Ricky
Hi Ruby,
Thanks for publishing these pictures. I had a chance to meet John a couple of times when he was in San Diego with concerts. He's awesome!
Well said.
hi...do you know who did the vocals for his song Soft Melody? I'm not sure if it was Pia Zadora. Can you help me? Thanks.
Hi Dado,
The album's vocals (including Soft Melody) was done by Kate Markowitz. Hope that helps. :)
Thank you for sharing the wonderful photos.
I was born in Chiba, Japan, where Mr John Kaizan Neptune lives, and like surfing a lot.
The wave in the photo seems to be my favorite surf spot, Isumi the Dokari.
You never know. Mr Kaizan and I may have already met. Surfers do not ask each other their profession on the beach all the time, you see.
Thanks, Ruby, once again. And I hope you won't mind if I place the link to your site on my blog.
Naoto Matsumoto
Hi Ruby, I was just wondering if you were able to get a copy of the Mixed Bag album . I've been looking for a cd copy of that album for a long time but unfortunately I couldn't find one.Hoping you could help. Thank you. Sherwin
Sherwin, I don't think it ever came out on CD. Although someone commented that it did some years ago. Personally, I have not been able to find one. Sorry I can't be much help.
Thank you Ruby. I used to listen to one particular radio station which only plays jazz music. If I remember correctly ,the station is WK 101.9 . There is this one instrumental music included in the Mixed Bag album that I really miss, but unfortunately ,I can't remember the title anymore. If I ever I get hold of that album, rest assured that I'll give you a copy : ) Sherwin
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