類家心平 on Jazz of Japan | Brian McCrory https://www.jazzofjapan.com/tags/%E9%A1%9E%E5%AE%B6%E5%BF%83%E5%B9%B3/ Recent content in 類家心平 on Jazz of Japan | Brian McCrory Hugo en-us Fri, 10 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Shinpei Ruike & George Nakajima: Duo https://www.jazzofjapan.com/shinpei-ruike-george-nakajima-duo/ Fri, 10 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.jazzofjapan.com/shinpei-ruike-george-nakajima-duo/ <p><em>Duo</em> is the latest album from trumpeter Shinpei Ruike and pianist George Nakajima, two Tokyo-based jazz musicians who hail from the same area in northern Japan, along with many of the people who helped to create this recording.</p> <figure><a href="L1230241x-1024.jpeg"> <img loading="lazy" src="L1230241x-1024.jpeg"/> </a> </figure> <p>Like their previous release <em><a href="https://www.jazzofjapan.com/shinpei-ruike-george-nakajima-n40/">N.40°</a></em> (a reference to their mutual hometown of Hachinohe), the music on <em>Duo</em> is atmospheric, moody, and mostly dark. The sound of Ruike’s trumpet is extremely evocative and textured. Like colors from a paint pallet, he mixes tones from husky to muted to bell-clear as his inspiration unfolds. Layers of emotion surface and mingle in his trumpet sound, as captivating as an audible patina cultivated through age and exposure like the surface of a brass horn.</p> Duo is the latest album from trumpeter Shinpei Ruike and pianist George Nakajima, two Tokyo-based jazz musicians who hail from the same area in northern Japan, along with many of the people who helped to create this recording.

Like their previous release N.40° (a reference to their mutual hometown of Hachinohe), the music on Duo is atmospheric, moody, and mostly dark. The sound of Ruike’s trumpet is extremely evocative and textured. Like colors from a paint pallet, he mixes tones from husky to muted to bell-clear as his inspiration unfolds. Layers of emotion surface and mingle in his trumpet sound, as captivating as an audible patina cultivated through age and exposure like the surface of a brass horn.

Perhaps influenced by their bonded background, the flow and time sensitivity between Ruike and pianist Nakajima seems innately linked. The two musicians have a sense of how to slightly stretch and subtly bend time as they play, yet they lock into rhythms naturally, without falling off the tracks.

Duo is overall a melancholy affair, with most songs taken at a slow and serious pace. This is an album that sets a scene of deep contemplation for a listener, whether they are fully absorbing the music or setting it as an unobtrusive aural backdrop. If this music were interpreted as love songs, it would be love laced with pain, as loneliness, longing, or memories keep a vulnerable flame of hope alight and protected.

With eleven tracks running for about an hour, the majority of songs are interpreted covers of music from artists including Paul Motion (“Blue Midnight”), Miles Davis (a free-range “Bye Bye Blackbird”), Duke Ellington (“In A Sentimental Mood”), and Antonio Carlos Jobim (“Luiza”). Personal highlights include the beautiful and slightly painful “Amarilla Flor” from Luis Alberto Spinetta and the pushed-through-the-horn, breathy sound on “Plus for que nous”, a song on Duo that most strongly evokes the expertly controlled tone and feel of Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko.

Also included are three wonderful originals from Ruike: the boiling cauldron of “Ambargris”, the pretty, fresh feelings in “Dear”, and the haunting and desolate “Vida”.

Liner Notes

(Translated from the original Japanese liner notes visible in the photo above.)

It seems like the relative size of humans to viruses is about the same as the earth compared to humans. And yet, while humans and viruses are insignificant and extremely small, nevertheless they can cause great damage to the environments in which they live. In this way, truly negligible differences can be made in the world by such tiny human beings, especially those who make a living through self-expression. However, living through the situation in the last few years where there were so few live performances and opportunities, there was plenty of time to strongly feel the importance and necessity of preserving recorded works. I don’t know if I can contribute anything, but I believe that this recording can serve as proof that somehow we were able to survive through these conditions. I’m so happy that we can leave this irreplaceable record that was made together with friends from my hometown, everyone from the recording engineer to the jacket designer. Thank you to everyone who was involved.

Shinpei Ruike

Audio and Video

]]> Naoko Akimoto: No One Else https://www.jazzofjapan.com/naoko-akimoto-no-one-else/ Mon, 15 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.jazzofjapan.com/naoko-akimoto-no-one-else/ <p>Vocalist Naoko Akimoto’s debut release <em>No One Else</em> is a seven-song introduction to the popular singer, a presentation of standard jazz and Japanese pop arranged with care and performed by top musicians from Tokyo.</p> <figure><a href="L1200590x-1024.jpeg"> <img loading="lazy" src="L1200590x-1024.jpeg"/> </a> </figure> <p>The arrangements are nice, particularly on the opening track “Moondance” which opens with a deep bass, piano, and vibes setting up a grove for Akimoto to lead the listener through the atmospheric drama of the tune. The decorated arrangements include vocal harmonies with trumpet, flute, and other instruments adding beautiful layers to the music.</p> Vocalist Naoko Akimoto’s debut release No One Else is a seven-song introduction to the popular singer, a presentation of standard jazz and Japanese pop arranged with care and performed by top musicians from Tokyo.

The arrangements are nice, particularly on the opening track “Moondance” which opens with a deep bass, piano, and vibes setting up a grove for Akimoto to lead the listener through the atmospheric drama of the tune. The decorated arrangements include vocal harmonies with trumpet, flute, and other instruments adding beautiful layers to the music.

After the classy opener, the album continues with the title track “No One Else”, a soulful pop ballad written by Akimoto. The remaining five tracks include three jazz standards: the chaste “I’ve Got A Crush On You”, a sultry “This Masquerade”, and a tender, bossa-flavored “Fly Me To The Moon”. While Akimoto sings in English for most of the album, she chooses to sing in Japanese for two pop songs, “Sentimental” and “Ajisai”, adding to the musical variety and showing us more of Akimoto’s range and affection on her album debut.

Audio and Video

]]> Routine Jazz Sextet: Routine Jazz Sextet https://www.jazzofjapan.com/routine-jazz-sextet-routine-jazz-sextet/ Tue, 21 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.jazzofjapan.com/routine-jazz-sextet-routine-jazz-sextet/ <p><em>Routine Jazz Sextet</em> from 2008 promotes genuine jazz from Tokyo with the flavor of 1950/60’s era jazz giants such as Horace Silver and Art Blakey &amp; the Jazz Messengers. Not just a throwback, the band honors the musical legacy while incorporating the youthful, modern sound and mindset of current jazz players from Japan.</p> <figure><a href="L1230058-1024.jpg"> <img loading="lazy" src="L1230058-1024.jpg"/> </a> </figure> <p>Perhaps not well-known among standard jazz fans, the Routine Jazz Label from famed producer and DJ Kei Kobayashi gained international renown with “club jazz” compilations such as Schema, Deja Vu, and Ricky-Tick, beat-oriented music remixed with jazz and bossa nova samples for dance clubs and trance-leaning airwaves.</p> Routine Jazz Sextet from 2008 promotes genuine jazz from Tokyo with the flavor of 1950/60’s era jazz giants such as Horace Silver and Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. Not just a throwback, the band honors the musical legacy while incorporating the youthful, modern sound and mindset of current jazz players from Japan.

Perhaps not well-known among standard jazz fans, the Routine Jazz Label from famed producer and DJ Kei Kobayashi gained international renown with “club jazz” compilations such as Schema, Deja Vu, and Ricky-Tick, beat-oriented music remixed with jazz and bossa nova samples for dance clubs and trance-leaning airwaves.

Here, Kobayashi joins forces with Takehiko Komine (owner of respected Tokyo jazz club Nardis) to produce “Routine Jazz Sextet”, a tongue-in-cheek comment on his popular club jazz albums, advertised as a “genuine jazz from Tokyo” response to popular club jazz. While straightforward jazz, in one way this is a crossover album, picking songs from the hard bop era that relate to samples and music used in club jazz.

With nine tracks over 39 minutes, the music is propulsive, boiling and full of energy. Most of the songs run at around four minutes, straight-ahead showcases for the horn arrangements and improvisations, as well as the unflagging power of the rhythm section which steams through the tracks. The songs include a nice blend of selections from America and Europe, bringing to mind the sounds of Cannonball Adderley, Wayne Shorter, and Ray Bryant, and of course the aforementioned hard bop giants Art Blakey and Horace Silver. Routine in name only, this is wholly enjoyable from start to finish.

Audio and Video

]]> Shinpei Ruike & George Nakajima: N.40° https://www.jazzofjapan.com/shinpei-ruike-george-nakajima-n40/ Tue, 12 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.jazzofjapan.com/shinpei-ruike-george-nakajima-n40/ <p>Art music from two musician artists, <em>N.40°</em> is sweet and stimulating, mellow and manic, alternating between states on this compelling album. The emotive trumpet-and-piano duo of Shinpei Ruike and George Nakajima delivers atmospheric standards as well as boundary-pushing free improvisations. With moments of both comfortable and experimental jazz, the pieces alternate from limpid and romantic to free and offbeat wild abandon; fun improvisational pieces are placed like splashes of color between beautiful jazz songs (“The Nearness of You”, “Pure Imagination”, “Alone, Alone and Alone”).</p> Art music from two musician artists, N.40° is sweet and stimulating, mellow and manic, alternating between states on this compelling album. The emotive trumpet-and-piano duo of Shinpei Ruike and George Nakajima delivers atmospheric standards as well as boundary-pushing free improvisations. With moments of both comfortable and experimental jazz, the pieces alternate from limpid and romantic to free and offbeat wild abandon; fun improvisational pieces are placed like splashes of color between beautiful jazz songs (“The Nearness of You”, “Pure Imagination”, “Alone, Alone and Alone”).

The album contains 16 songs, an engaging mix of standards and original tunes. Seven shorter solo improvisations (1-2 minutes apiece) of piano or trumpet are found among the fuller, composed songs, providing interesting breaks of splashy free expression to the overall album experience.

Nakajima’s skillful piano provides the cool rhythmic and harmonic underpinning with a sensitive, fun touch, while Ruike’s mysterious and breathy trumpet calls to mind the famous Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko at times with its skillfully edgy and elastic sounds.

Audio and Video

]]> Takako Yamada: The Flow of Time https://www.jazzofjapan.com/takako-yamada-flow-of-time/ Fri, 27 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.jazzofjapan.com/takako-yamada-flow-of-time/ <p>Takako Yamada’s <em>The Flow of Time</em> features 11 original compositions from the pianist, a bold collection of exciting moods and modern compositions in adventurous style.</p> <figure><a href="L1200224-1024.jpg"> <img loading="lazy" src="L1200224-1024.jpg"/> </a> </figure> <p>Starting assertively with a modern jazz/rock feel, electric guitar and acoustic piano lay out high opening stakes for an album filled with dramatic creativity. The songs explore moments of musical sensitivity, relaxed swing, Monkish joy and freedom, and bluesy contemplation, with full sounds of crystal piano tones, warm electric guitar, bright drum work and deep, dark bass anchoring the group sound.</p> Takako Yamada’s The Flow of Time features 11 original compositions from the pianist, a bold collection of exciting moods and modern compositions in adventurous style.

Starting assertively with a modern jazz/rock feel, electric guitar and acoustic piano lay out high opening stakes for an album filled with dramatic creativity. The songs explore moments of musical sensitivity, relaxed swing, Monkish joy and freedom, and bluesy contemplation, with full sounds of crystal piano tones, warm electric guitar, bright drum work and deep, dark bass anchoring the group sound.

For added variety, a wonderfully plaintive trumpet is present on several tracks and provides a sweet organic mellowness. Adding to the mix, some of the more magical parts of the album feature the lush instrumentation of ethereal tabla drums, interlude-like sections with a deep and exotic meditative tinge.

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