On September 30, 1977, Kaoru Abe played a solo night at Gaya (騒), a small live house in Hatsudai, Tokyo, run by Emiko Gaya. Shinji Ohno taped the second set: one thirteen-minute improvisation on sopranino saxophone, logged as "Lonely Woman / Blowing with the Wind," a title that points at Ornette Coleman and then wanders off. It is the earliest of the Gaya recordings, which continued through August 19, 1978. Abe, who had divorced the novelist Izumi Suzuki that year, died of a drug overdose on September 9, 1978, aged 29, three weeks after the last of them. The tapes waited until 1990, when DIW began issuing them chronologically as a ten-volume series, with this set opening Vol. 1 and the club's owner credited as producer. She later wrote a memoir of the place, subtitled for Abe, Suzuki and the free-jazz players who passed through.
Cover of "Solo Live at Gaya Vol. 1" (DIW, 1990), which opens with the September 30, 1977 set. Used as a stand-in because no free-licensed photograph of Kaoru Abe could be found on Wikimedia Commons. Album cover art, copyright the rights holder (DIW), all rights reserved — this is not a Creative Commons or public-domain image.
Sources: Kaoru Abe — Solo Live at Gaya Vol. 1 — Improvised Music from Japan (tracklist; produced by Emiko Gaya; recorded live by Shinji Ohno at Gaya, Hatsudai, Tokyo, September 30, 1977 (track 1, sopranino), October 29 and December 17, 1977; originally DIW-371, 1990) , Kaoru Abe Discography — jazzdisco.org (Gaya, Hatsudai, 2nd set, September 30, 1977, "Sopranino Improvisation: Lonely Woman / Blowing With The Wind"; Gaya sessions through August 19, 1978) , 阿部薫 (サックス奏者) — Wikipedia (Japanese; born May 3, 1949; died September 9, 1978, drug overdose, age 29; married Izumi Suzuki, divorced 1977; 『ソロ・ライヴ・アット・騒vol.1』 1977.9.30 & 10.29 & 12.17録音) , Kaoru Abe — Solo Live at Gaya Vol. 1 (1990, CD) — Discogs , ライブ・アット 騒 (GAYA) ─ 阿部薫、鈴木いづみ、フリージャズメンとの日々 — 騒恵美子 (diskunion; the Gaya owner's memoir)
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