Kunpei Nakabayashi Orchestra: Circles

Jun 06, 2025

Circles is a 2021 album from the Kunpei Nakabayashi Orchestra, a ten-member big band led by the group’s namesake leader and bassist. The CD has eight songs and runs for about forty-seven minutes, while the streaming version of the album includes six of the songs. This is Nakabayashi’s third release and the first with his orchestra.

It’s an exciting big band sound where the instrumental arrangements are a natural forefront highlight of Nakabayashi’s music written for alto sax, tenor sax, clarinet, flute (x2), baritone saxophone, trumpet (x2), trombone (x2), piano, bass, and drums. All of the players are well-known, hard-working musicians working in and outside Japan in various forms. Special mention is made for trumpeter Takuya Kuroda, the most famous name in this group who is known for major label releases, international jazz festival activity, and collaborations with international musicians in jazz, fusion, and other genres.

The rhythms on Circles are energetic, many with modern jazz straight-eights and Latin-beat propulsion. The exciting individual horn soloists interlock grandly with written-out front-line horn section statements. This results in a live jazz sound that grabs listeners’ attention and illuminates different parts of the orchestra as the music unfolds.

As a long-experienced bassist, Nakabayashi knows how to expertly deliver the essential rhythmic and melodic roots when playing jazz to communicate intimately with listeners. As the leader on this album, he makes sure to keep driving an exciting groove throughout most of the songs, making several moments on the album equal candidates for highlights.

#1 “Circulo” introduces the exciting modern jazz sound overflowing with energy. #2 “Passing” shifts to a solid 3/4 time walk that is somehow both weighty and light. #3 “Choro for Charlie” (for Charlie Haden? Mingus? Parker?) is sleek with cool George Russellian quirks to it that keep the interest high. #4 “Partagas” is a brave adventure with a surprise piano montuno and drum solo embedded in its fusion/Latin groove.

#5 “My Ship” (tracks #5 and 6 are switched on the CD jacket), the sole jazz standard, is a laidback cool-down interval. #6 “Evenfall” is a magnificently suspenseful journey guided by an extended flute solo. #7 “Nocturne” has an emotional, graceful Ellingtonian sound, and together with track #5 offers a restful period on a disc otherwise filled with engaging whirlwinds. Finally, #8 “R.B.” is a fun, loud jazz blues that builds with popping swing-dance energy. Here the humble leader, not one to hog the mic, at last takes his only bass solo on the album (likely invoking “R.B.”, or Ray Brown, the famous long-time bassist in the Oscar Peterson trio). Nakabayashi plays a great four choruses on four strings before the ensemble locks into a lively orchestrated fanfare, a perfect way to close this Circle.

Circles by Kunpei Nakabayashi Orchestra

Tokuhiro Doi - alto sax, flute, clarinet
Akihiro Nishiguchi - tenor sax, flute
Yu Kuga - baritone sax
Miki Hirose - trumpet 1
Takuya Kuroda - trumpet 2
Hirotsugu Sakemoto - trombone 1
Shigetaka Ikemoto - trombone 2
Jun Miyakawa - piano
Kunpei Nakabayashi - bass
Tomo Kanno - drums

Released in 2021 on KP-LAB as KP-0001.

Names in Japanese: 土井徳浩 (Doi Tokuhiro) 西口明宏 (Nishiguchi Akihiro) 陸悠 (Kuga Yu) 広瀬未来 (Hirose Miki) 黒田卓也 (Kuroda Takuya) 酒本廣継 (Sakemoto Hirotsugu) 池本茂貴 (Ikemoto Shigetaka) 宮川純 (Miyakawa Jun) 中林薫平 (Nakabayashi Kunpei) 菅野知明 (Kanno Tomo)