Customer Reviews

Postcards from Bundanon: The Very Best of Riley Lee

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I had the wonderful experience of attending Riley's Breathing Workshop at The Woodford folk festival in Australia. He is an inspiring teacher, and the shakuhachi is a wonderfully haunting instrument. This album is a good 'intro' to the music of Riley Lee, and shows the breadth of compatability this instument has with other instruments - ie, didgeridoo....

If music-making can be thought of as a living, breathing meditation, then it doesn't get any cleaner and purer than this. Calm, clean, clear and minimalistic, the shakuhachi playing of Riley Lee commands the attention with its simplicity, shedding the mundane cars of the day and refocusing the mind to another place and time, or--more appropriately for a Zen art--to nowhere. To nowhen. To nothing. I'm used to a rougher, breathier edge to shakuhachi music but Riley Lee's technique, while still nuanced in tone and execution, sounds smooth, rich and polished--almost buttery. It's extraordinarily soothing to listen to, whether he's playing alone or with other musicians, as he does in some of the tracks here--with guest artists playing instruments ranging from koto and folk harp to didgeridoo, Indian tabla and electronica. After studying in Japan for nine years, in 1980 Lee became the first non-Japanese to attain the rank of grand master in the shakuhachi tradition. It shows. "Postcards from Bundanon" offers a retrospective of Lee's recordings, featuring ten selections from nine previous albums, and providing written context for each. Try also Riley Lee's other work, and Richard Warner's "Quiet Heart / Spirit Wind." Compare with the shakuhachi fusion of "Meditative Flute," featuring Kifu Mitsuhashi and Toshiko Yonekawa, and Kazu Matsui's "Stone Monkey." And for a similar album featuring the Native American flute, try R. Carlos Nakkai's "The Best of Nakkai: In Beauty We Return."

I love this CD and have played it so much it has become damaged and I have to get a new one (or a download).
I love the story about how Lee came to his calling. He was touring in Japan and had only a few days left before going home. He went into a shop and came across a shakuhachi flute. When he asked the owner what it sounded like, he was told he should learn how to play it. That was it. Lee found a master/sensei and began to learn and didn't leave Japan for several years.
You can't go wrong with this one.

If you're not into Riley Lee's shakuhachi yet, this would an excellent album to find out whether you like him. There are takes from eight of his discs. If you're a fan and own virtually every disc he ever made, this would be surplusage. If you're just a fan, like me -- it's a wonderful recording.