(Aside: Following this apostrophe trail, this album’s bluesy first track may be no accidental serendipity but an intentional pick. Starting with the album title Ol’ School Jazz, the first track “Driftin’”, and that song’s origin on Herbie Hancock’s Takin’ Off, that’s three apostrophes already. Did the friendly informality of this “jazz apostrophe” as used in the day carry a similar effect — particularly for the “jazz atmosphere” of certain albums, laid back but highly skilled, casual but serious — as emojis and internet abbreviations do today? A prototype for the simple, effective, and immediate impact of quick slang like LOL, OMG, WTF? BRB…)

Ol’ School Jazz is a 14-track album loaded with unforgettable tunes from several eras of jazz history. Kumagai and Kawamura’s duo project honors that history with integrity and love by selecting familiar but excellent songs from the swing, bebop, and hard bop eras of the 1930s-60s, mainly. For fans of jazz classics and honest playing, it doesn’t get much better than Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence”, Benny Golson’s “Stablemates”, and Dizzy Gillespie and Kenny Clarke’s “Salt Peanuts”.

Jazz jam session favorites are also represented: “Caravan”, “All the Things You Are”, “If I Were A Bell”, “Alone Together”, and even “Cherokee”, no doubt a speed challenge when played by a drumless duo. One mood outlier among the straight-ahead swing and bop is Wayne Shorter’s “Sleeping Dancer Sleep On”, the tender highlight of the album and a beautiful melody played lovingly by the duo.

Filling out the package is one original song, the comfortable home base of a groovy jazz blues simply titled “Blues”. Each player also gets their own spot alone: Kawamura plays a brilliant bass solo on “Up Jumped Spring” in a relaxed midtempo swing, and Kumagai wraps up the album with a gospel blues piano solo for the last track, the spiritual and expressive “Amazing Grace”.

Audio and Video

• Audio for “All the Things You Are”, track #5 from this album:

• Excerpt from track #11: “Blues”

This album follows his previous release J-Straight Ahead after five years. The pianist and composer Kumagai regularly records as a trio on his albums, but his main motivation this time was to change to a quartet setting for all songs. Similarly, the overall sound changes very slightly as well, towards Latin-inspired modern jazz — not straight Latin jazz, but modern-day straight-ahead jazz with a variety of spicy influences. Like the playing and concepts that listeners loved on his previous releases, it’s still Kumagai’s music, combining his lively playing with hummable melodies and gripping beats, infused with hues of hip-hop music and personality. Particularly, Kumagai’s command of groove, gospel, and Glasper-inspired music is strongly felt as he pulls from his deep well of authentic and modern jazz, and the album is satisfyingly full of smart music, cool improvisation, and groovy bass lines and drum textures.

Kumagai’s originals are always interesting, balancing simple, catchy melodies with more complex rhythms and structures, often in those odd-time meters like 7/4 or 12/8 that invigorate musicians and listeners alike. Last Resort includes six of his new original tunes, with two additional cover songs wrapping up the set, literally: The entire album was recorded over one day with the songs played in order of the track listing. Capturing the day’s progression gives the album the feel of a live performance, and as the tracks progress, the momentum builds and the energy changes, much like a live band playing a setlist on stage. Even the final tune, “Caravan”, has the feel of an impromptu, high-energy encore as the song emerges out of an adrenalin-surging drum solo that had started on the previous song, recording both tracks in one continuous take and capping the album (and the recording session) on an intense high note.

Recording all together, in set list order, with a limited time window is challenging, but the quartet had performed together over the previous two nights at live shows, which worked like an extended warm-up and captured the feeling of a mid-tour performance in the recording.

Album highlights include the modern jazz beat of “Pirarucu”, the soca-inspired, dramatic “Conflict Areas”, and the adventurous abandon on the uptempo “Caravan”, an excitingly rearranged version of this familiar jazz standard. The other cover song on the album, “Quizás Quizás Quizás”, is the most clearly Latin-inspired choice and may be well-known to Latin genre fans (incidentally, the song may also sound vaguely familiar to those who remember 90’s alternative rock band Cake’s version of “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps”.)

Liner Notes

(Translated from the original Japanese liner notes written by Yasumasa Kumagai.)

Hey there, Yasumasa Kumagai here. Thanks for buying my CD. It’s actually been five years since my last album as a leader, the second album on my JAZZY BEAR label. The title of the album this time is Last Resort, 最終手段 (saishū shudan: last resort) in Japanese, and if you ask what I mean by that, it’s like this: There’s been a lot of talk recently about CDs not selling these days, so… okay then, I’d better create a crazy design for the cover, right? So I tried to make a jacket that looks like something from a rapper from the southern US. That’s all it means (laughs). For anyone who bought this based on the jacket, this may be like a time when you thought you were buying a cola but, upon tasting it, it turned out to be barley tea.

You can’t do something like this without having your own independent label, right?

By the way, the actual concept of this album is to include trumpet on all the songs. Since I’ve never made an album having a horn player on all the songs, this is a new attempt for me. So I compiled songs with the idea that Miki Hirose would be playing with me. I’ve known him since my New York days, and was often invited to play with his large ensemble over the past several years. His compositions and arrangements are so great that I thought I’d also like to write something similar someday. But suddenly composing for a large ensemble seemed impossible, so I resolved to start by writing with just one horn in mind, the trumpet. That was five or six years ago. Finally, I was able to make this one-horn album. So, on that schedule, I should be releasing a quintet album after another five years, and a large ensemble album in about fifty years.

Also, this time there are more Latin songs. I like contemporary Latin jazz, and Hirose often played in that style while in New York. I always looked forward to seeing him every time he returned to Japan with the authentic feel of that kind of music. And, after all this and that, I was finally able to release something with Hirose.

As for the two rhythm section members, I’ve been working with them for about eight years. Bassist Furuki may appear to be a cyber-terrorist on the album cover, but that’s not the case at all. He is a serious musician who deeply pursues music. When I first performed with him, he was about twenty-two years old and I thought “Wow, this is a great bassist.” I immediately asked him to join my trio. Plus, he’s also a great pianist to the point where he can play live shows as a piano trio, so if you think about it, it should make me pretty uncomfortable to play with him, right?

Drummer Yamada may appear to some as a delinquent or anti-social, but in fact, he’s not that at all. When I first met him, he was about twenty-one years old and so baby-faced that I thought “Is today’s drummer a child?” Steadily gaining more experience through the years, he’s become an excellent mainstay drummer leading a very busy life.

I like to include elements from a wide variety of genres in my compositions, and these two always are quick to grasp the music and make the songs evolve.

Recording with such great friends like these was perfect and over before we knew it, much like the rehearsals. It was so fun… I wish I could do it every month.

1. Pirarucu

This is a song with a Brazilian feel. Brazil brings to mind the Amazon River, and the Amazon River brings to mind the pirarucu (one of the world’s largest freshwater fish), which I chose as the title for this song. Although the chord progression is a little complicated, I hope that you can sense the Amazon somewhat.

2. Happy New Year

I finished this song at home right before a New Year’s Eve event, so gave it this title. Starting with a Cm7-5 intro, there’s a dark sound that contradicts the title. I wrote this with Hirose precisely in mind. Try listening to this in a set with Coltrane’s “Countdown” on New Year’s Eve, yeah?

3. Conflict Areas

I wrote this with the image of Africa in mind and recalling a soca groove from Trinidad and Tobago. There are so many areas around the world called conflict zones where people are forced to live in conditions unimaginable in Japan. However it doesn’t necessarily mean that I am somehow involved in these activities myself, but by starting to know about these things, I ended up choosing the title based on the meaning of conflict zone.

4. La Camiseta Hermosa

A song in 12/8 time with a Latin flavor. Hirose’s band often plays songs with a 6/8 or 12/8 feel, so I thought I would try to write one myself. Luckily, I’ve gotten quite a bit used to it. This song went untitled for a long time, but on the day of the recording, Furuki was wearing a t-shirt with the word “Hermosa” on it. Everyone thought that this word (meaning “beautiful” in Spanish) would be good, so that turned into the title. It means “beautiful shirt”.

5. Apologetic Blues

Blues of apology. One time, I had completely forgotten about a student’s lesson and missed the appointment. I wrote this song in the middle of that forgetfulness. It’s a minor blues sort of like Wayne Shorter in the Blue Note era.

6. Dough

In Japanese, it’s 現生 (gen nama: hard cash). It’s been said that Japan is lagging as the rest of the world moves towards cashless payments. There are still jazz clubs where cash is king and credit card and smartphone payments are not accepted. I tried to capture that 切なさ (setsunasa: bittersweet, wistful, sadness, pain) feeling in a ballad.

7. Quizás Quizás Quizás

I like Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s arrangement of this Latin standard number that I listened to in middle school, and I tried to arrange it for my style. The ending is the highlight, with such a changed atmosphere that makes you wonder what has been happening up until then.

8. Caravan

And, continuing from the drum solo of the previous song at the same tempo, it’s this familiar jazz standard number. I also tried to arrange this one with a vivid Latin color. The final two songs were recorded in succession, in one shot. The schedule is complete!

This was my first time to try something new, to record all the songs sequentially in order of the album listing. As for the reason why, I thought it would be interesting to capture the flow of the full day, from beginning to end, in the recording.

That’s all for now. We appreciate your support as we continue to release new albums in the future.

Audio and Video

• Live version of “Pirarucu”, track #1 from this album:

• Live version of “Conflict Areas”, track #3 from this album:

• Excerpt from track #5: “Apologetic Blues”

On Pray, Kumagai’s trio opens with “Brotherhood”, setting up an atmospherically moody yet light and relaxed vibe. Other album highlights include his live-show favorite “Yellow Tail”, a well-developed modern jazz exciter, and “Choir’s Got Fired”, a laid-back groove with irresistibly catchy riffs and an album highlight. The music is influenced by modern jazz players like Robert Glasper as well as hip hop concepts and includes enough dashes of unexpected changes, odd meters and beats, honest sensitivity, and spicy dissonance to keep the album in regular rotation for a great J Jazz piano trio playlist.

Audio and Video

• A live performance of “Yellow Tail”, the seventh track on the album:

• Excerpt from track #5: “CHOIR’S GOT FIRED”

Fun and catchy but with a serious musical depth, the music covers both cool and bittersweet moods, at times evoking influences from Robert Glasper’s style of gospel-inspired hip-hop jazz. Kumagai’s songwriting skill and precision playing make for a high-quality J Jazz album, full of soul and passion rooted in authentic jazz with ultra-modern sharpness.

Kumagai’s original songs fill the album, along with a cover of the R&B song “I Wanna Know” and a reworked version of Sonny Rollins’s “St. Thomas”, built on an extended tease vamp breaking into high-intensity jazz changes. Most of the songs feature the piano trio, with guest players including alto sax on two tracks, trumpet on one, and a duo track featuring piano with a talented beatbox vocalist as well.

Liner Notes

(A translation of Tabu Zombie’s original Japanese liner notes.)

Yasumasa Kumagai. I first heard his name about one year ago.

It was a name that I had often heard spoken around. After about a year passed, I heard him for the first time, playing live at a jazz club that I happened to drop by. I suddenly understood at that time what people had been talking about. His sensitive style and tuneful melodies flowed naturally to my ears.

After a while, I heard that a friend of mine was going to release Kumagai’s CD on his own label, so I begged him to let me be involved in some way. This was how I came to fill the role of producer for this project.

When creating this work and reaching the stage where I listened to the demo, his vision was complete, and he knew clearly the best direction to go at any point. What surprised me most was his good taste in the songs that he wrote. There’s a melodious delicacy that may be hard to imagine from appearances. In this day and age, players who are blessed with a balance of good playing ability and musical sense are extremely valuable.

The type of jazz that evolved in Japan’s mixture culture has again been subdivided, segmented, and continues to change. Kumagai skillfully absorbs and accumulates various genres of music and expresses them in a wonderful way. With this recording as an impetus, definitely keep an eye on Yasumasa Kumagai.

Tabu Zombie (SOIL & “PIMP” SESSIONS)

Audio and Video

• Yasumasa Kumagai Trio playing “Bolivia” live in 2017:

• Excerpt from track #2: “iI Need achange,too”

J-Straight Ahead was released in 2015 and is Kumagai’s fourth album release as a leader. It is preceded by his albums I Need a Change, Too (2008), Ol’ School Jazz (2009), and Yasumasa Kumagai: Pray (2010) and followed by Last Resort (2020).

As always, Kumagai’s energetic and exciting piano jazz trio is on display, where his great compositions and an at-times edgy attitude are the surfaces covering a sensitive and deep sense of musicality. Like a engrossing conversation, Kumagai’s piano solos often start simple and build with fiery drama while bassist Yosuke Inoue and drummer Masahiko Osaka stir up some boiling rhythms.

Aside from jazz recording, teaching, and keeping an active performance schedule, Kumagai has also been productive online with his newsletter, blog, and his YouTube channel related to J Jazz with interviews, jazz piano technique lessons, and live performance videos. Recently, he’s even started his JAZZY BEAR product line of branded goods like designed hats and shirts. (The name Kumagai starts with the kanji for bear, 熊 kuma.) He released J-Straight Ahead on his label of the same name.

Obi Notes

The first album release in five years! The more evolved sound of Kumagai explodes with a powerful rhythm section!

Yasumasa Kumagai / J-Straight Ahead

Born in 1979 in Mito, Ibaraki. He began playing piano at three years old and started his self-study of jazz piano during middle school. Moved to the US in 1998, and entered Berklee College of Music. Graduated in 2000 and moved to New York. Studied under Robert Glasper. He returned to Japan in 2003 and is currently active throughout the country with a base of Tokyo. His previous releases include the leader albums I Need A Change,Too, Ol’ School Jazz’, and Pray. In 2015 he released his long-awaited work on his own JAZZY BEAR label.

Audio and Video

• Promotional video for “Chill Out” (track #4):

• Live performance of “Draft Beer” (track #1) with Motoi Kanamori on bass and Akira Yamada on drums:

• Live performance of “Moonlight” (track #2) with Keisuke Furuki on bass and Akira Yamada on drums:

• Excerpt from track #1: “Draft Beer”