Search - Riley Lee :: Sanctuary

As peaceful and enchanting as a sunset's afterglow on a cloudless summer evening, the gentle music of Riley Lee (playing shakuhachi flute, an instrument traditionally used by Japanese monks) and Bert Moon (on koto, a 13-string zither) stirs a warm, caressing breeze that calms the spirit and stills the mind. Lee, an Australian, is one of the few non-Japanese musicians to be acknowledged as a dai shihan (grand master) of the shakuhachi, a fairly primitive flute made from a bamboo root. His talents are artfully displayed on this tranquil assortment of improvisational duets with Moon, recorded in 1984 and first released in 1991 as a meditative cassette titled Evening Mist. Lee's elegant, prolonged tones are gentle to the point of weightlessness, residing in comfortable low and middle ranges without sounding a shrill note. Moon, though not credited on the recording's front cover, admirably handles an egalitarian role throughout the disc's 61 minutes, handsomely complementing Lee's cerebral textures with dignified, unobtrusive accents. Listeners raised on Occidental music will find little alien about Lee and Moon's graceful, unhurried duets, ideal for periods of restfulness or contemplation. --Terry Wood