Ganryu Island is an collaborative album by John Zorn and Michihiro Sato. The album was first released on vinyl LP on Yukon Records in 1984 and later re-released on Tzadik Records as a CD with five additional tracks in 1998.[2]

Ganryu Island
Studio album by Michihiro Sato & John Zorn
Released	1985 1998 (Re-Release)
Recorded	Radio City Studio on November 23, 1984[1]
Genre	Avant-garde
Length	75:24
Label	Yukon Tzadik (Re-Release)
Producer	John Zorn
John Zorn chronology
The Classic Guide to Strategy (1983) Ganryu Island (1985) Voodoo (1986)

The album is titled after Ganryujima, a small island in the Strait of Shimonoseki where legendary samurai warriors Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro engaged in battle.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Joslyn Layne awarded the album 4 stars stating "The great, no-holds-barred improvisation is by no means an inchoate whirl -- indeed, the shamisen's rhythmic presence often provides a steady, but flexible structure for the duo's truly imaginative interaction".[3]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz observed "listening to Ganryu Island is like panning for gold: seeming eternities spent lodging through muddy dross in order to turn up a few moments of pure gold. By the oddest perversity, the very best tracks seem to be those which were excluded from the venial release".[4]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[4]

Track listing

All compositions by John Zorn and Satoh Michihiro

Personnel

• John Zorn - alto and soprano saxophones, Bb clarinet, game calls, E-flat clarinet
• Sato Michihiro - shamisen

References