Setagaya Trio: Progress

May 16, 2025

Pianist Yusei Takahashi, bassist Keigo Iwami, and drummer Sota Kira are the three co-leaders of Setagaya Trio, a contemporary jazz group whose band name was inspired by meeting in the hip Shimokitazawa neighborhood of Tokyo’s Setagaya ward. This trio’s second album Progress was released in 2024 and follows their 2017 album Introducing Setagaya Trio, a debut released two years after their formation in 2015.

Setagaya Trio’s concept is based on having all three players extend freely, rather than having one leader decide the group’s direction and style. This results in music that is freewheeling and fun with a risk-taking energy that is powered by their youthful, fresh attitude. The trio’s arrangements feel loose in a way, as if anything could happen, and they look forward to those unexpected surprises as challenges to meet head-on. At the same time, the tightness of their playing and arrangements is apparent, solid and effective. It’s an impressive bond arising from the extreme attention paid by each member to one another, no doubt paid off by their efforts and dedication to studied listening and practicing their art.

This album contains ten tracks made up of seven original songs and three covers. While this is mainly a studio-recorded album, the last song is from a live recording, and adds the nice touch of topping the album off with a raw, encore-like performance.

The band’s original songs include the slow-building #1 “Omrai”, the most straight-ahead jazz #2 “Metsa”, the club-style J Jazz groove #3 “Hako”, the short, Ornette-ishly free #5 “Skip Song” (with its amusingly self-deprecating title), the funky Latin-tinged soul jazz of #6 “K.O.G.S.”, the short Medeski Martin & Wood-sensed jam jazz of #7 “Setado Funk”, and the calm, sweet waltz of #8 “Jarvi”. Most songs are roughly in the standard five-to-seven minute duration, except for the two short songs (#3 and #7) which are around 2 minutes each, giving the impression of quick experiments thrown in as spice for the mix, just for fun, because they feel like it, and hey, why not? It keeps things interesting.

The three originals include the slow and romantic Spanish love song #4 “Amapola”, drummer Paul Motian’s spaciously and poetic “Bird Song” played with impressionistic verve, and a rhythmic and intense live version of pianist Thelonious Monk’s quirky “Thelonious”, a great way to highlight the respectful yet playful dynamic personality of Setagaya Trio.

Liner Notes

(Translated from the original Japanese liner notes.)

The band formed after hitting it off at a jam session in 2015. They met at a jam session in Shimokitazawa, Setagaya, which inspired the name “Setagaya Trio” for the band. The motif for the jacket design is the maneki-neko [beckoning cat figurine] of Gotokuji temple in Shimokitazawa.

There is no musical leader, and their style is characterized by the free expression of all three members. From regular standard numbers from free jazz, quiet noise, and Brazilian music, to modern R&B-styled tunes, their performances have attracted attention all over the country for their appetite to absorb anything and play in their own restrained way.

They released their first album Introducing Setagaya Trio in 2017, which was featured on NHK-FM’s “Jazz Tonight” program. Currently, in addition to performing at jazz clubs centered around the Tokyo metropolitan area, they are expanding the scope of their activities, including musical support for hip-hop producer STUTS.