Clean 1985 Japanese White Label Promo With Obi & Insert. "Of Course, Like Many Avant-Garde Experimenters And Musical Iconoclasts, Kondo's Early Musical Influences Were Largely Straight-Ahead Jazz, Especially Hard Bop. Indeed, The Name Of His College Band, The Funky Beaters, Fairly Reeks Of Hard Bop Attitude, Especially If One Subscribes To The Theory That The Nickname "Bop" Came From The Sound Of A Policeman's Nightstick Giving A Suspect A Beating. Such Was The Atmosphere During This Artist's College Days, When An Enormous Upheaval Took Place In The Society, Fueled On By The Radicalism Of The '60s. His First Love In Jazz Was Charlie Parker, But Unlike Many Trumpet Players, He Did Not Choose One Road Or The Other Between The Two Brass Stylists Closely Associated With Him: Dizzy Gillespie And Miles Davis. Both Trumpeters Became Almost Equally Grounding Influences In His Playing, Which Has Always Combined The Dazzling, Sometimes Outrageous Virtuosity Of Gillespie With Just About Every Aspect Of Davis' Career One Can Think Of, From The Buzzy Nestling Of His Harmon Mute To The Entire Electric Music Direction. The Free Jazz Of Ornette Coleman Was The Next Major Influence, But Within The Spirit Of This Music, He Developed His Own Frame Of Reference Which Was More Strongly Influenced By His Upbringing And Religious Studies Than Any Particular Musical Influences. He Played With Both British Guitarist Derek Bailey And Soprano Saxophonist Steve Lacy Prior To His New York Sojourn, And Continued Straddling The Fence Between Conventional Jazz Collaborations And The Outer Fringes Of Free Playing Through His Varied New York Relationships." Eugene Chadbourne, AMG.