Like the expansive cover depicting a peaceful blue ocean and sky, jazz bassist Daiki Yasukagawa’s trio on Kanmai creates a mood of a rolling deep and lofty grace.

The album includes nine modern jazz tunes, most being original compositions from Yasukagawa, and one each from pianist Sato and drummer Hashimoto. Two standards are also included, a swingy, stylish “Long Ago And Far Away”, and a bowed-bass feature on “Greensleeves”, a delicate, sacred performance heavy with emotional weight.

Opening with atmospheric space, unhurried and patient, the modern sound develops with a fun looseness based on confidence and skill; the music soars and swings with thrilling percussive, melodic, and bass interplay. These players bring a lot to the performance, listening and responding to each other throughout, reacting and embellishing each other’s ideas and open spaces with exquisite taste.

Kanmai by Daiki Yasukagawa Trio

• Daiki Yasukagawa - bass
• Koichi Sato - piano
• Manabu Hashimoto - drums

Released in 2012 on D-Neo Daiki Musica as DNCD-01.

Japanese names: 安ヵ川大樹 Yasukagawa Daiki 佐藤浩一 Sato Koichi 橋本学 Hashimoto Manabu

Audio and Video

• Daiki Yasukagawa Trio video for Kanmai:

• Excerpt from track #2: “Long Ago and Far Away”

Jazz of Japan #80 • Aug 23, 2019 • Brian McCrory