Aktion	Zweigstelle	Standorte	Status	Frist	Vorbestellungen
Vorbestellen	Zweigstelle: 17., Hormayrg. 2	Standorte: CD.10 Mann	Status: Verfügbar	Frist:	Vorbestellungen: 0

This is easily the strangest record Herbie Mann ever made -- and that's saying something. Released as an import-only in 1976, Gagaku & Beyond had Mann working in the world music fusion genre with great success long before new age or "world music" were ever marketing catch phrases. This set puts the "family of Mann" -- that included bassist Tony Levin, drummer Steve Gadd, guitarist Sam T. Brown, as well as Pat Rebillot on keyboards -- in close proximity to the stellar Japanese ensemble Minuro Muraoka. Muraoka's group concentrated on performing the royal court music of Japan, gagaku, with original instruments that include samisen, koto, riu teki, kakko, shoko, shakuhachi, and the big drums, taiko o-daiko and the wa-daiko. Astral Island is one of Herbie Mann's typical 1980s recordings, decidedly light and airy, full of cinematic swirl and the tufts of late-night love radio; this is Mann at his most romantically ardent and most instrumentally tepid. This is lite jazz with a capital "L." Flimsy Latin-flavored tunes such as "Nueva" work around a three-note figure in endless repetition to a series of rhythms that are almost inaudible -- it's all flutes, keys, and a bit of guitar tossed in for mood effect.