Bloodest Saxophone “Rhythm and Blues”

Bloodest Saxophone “Rhythm and Blues” (Blue Balls Records/Kadokawa Corporation 2013)

Koda “Young Corn” Shintaro—tenor saxophone
Coh—trombone, vocal, percussion
Oshikawa Yukimasa—baritone saxophone, percussion
Shuji—guitar
THE TAKEO—upright bass
Kiminori—drums

甲田‘ヤングコーン’伸太郎—tenor saxophone
Coh—trombone, vocal, percussion
ユキマサ—baritone saxophone, percussion
Shuji—guitar
THE TAKEO—upright bass
キミノリ—drums

You need a sense of nostalgia and a couple of shots of booze to fully appreciate Bloodest Saxophone, a wild sax-full group that ranges across the musical spectrum. With those under your belt, Bloodest Saxophone is a great, big kick. On their latest release, just making its way into small CD shops late last year, they are having a great time with the tradition of jump, swing and shuffle-stomp music from the 1950s.

This is the kind of CD where you can’t help making jokes on the homonymous similarity between the words sax and sex. Almost all the tunes are dance ready, both the oldies they dredge up and refurbish, as well as the originals they lovingly create. Those old dance tunes were the best kind of foreplay, but an art form, too. Listen to the second tune, “Go Power!” an original by Koda, and try to not think of a sexy partner spinning out from your hand on a dance floor, kicking up their heels.

Fun, and relaxed, the saxophones rip the tunes apart, then put them back together again. They have an intimate sense of timing, with stop-go rhythms, call-and-response melodies and a hardworking passion for the honking sound of saxophone. They turn the saxophone back into the devil’s instrument it was always intended to be.

Their cover of “Caravan” veers towards a nostalgic calm, but that doesn’t last long on that tune or any others. They always manage to resuscitate each tune with a raucous chorus or two and over-the-top solos that make the tribute alive. Their originals sound original, too.Even their intro to the songs, in spoken English, show the respectful joy they take in the masters of these bluesy, old-time gems. You can imagine them dropping to their knees in the studio, leaning back and wailing the sax up at the ceiling in a sultry sweat.

Honking gutbucket saxophones are rare enough one by one, but in conjunction they create almost another instrument. The tube-amp guitar sounds like it’s coming from the back of a dancehall and the drums sound road-worn. What’s best about the recording is nothing is measured or nuanced, nothing is in proportion; it’s just full-on, let-loose adulation of the rhythm-and-blues.

What would make a group of Japanese musicians dig into this gutsy, wild music is anyone’s guess. There’s hardly enough dance floors in Tokyo to give them room to free up fully, but reasons aside, their full-on energy and unpretentious take on this great, overlooked music is highly infectious.