May Inoue “First Train”
May Inoue “First Train”(EMI Music Japan Inc., Universal Music, somethin’else 2011)
May Inoue 井上銘—guitar
Takahiro Izumikawa 泉川貴広—acoustic piano, rhodes
Shunya Wakai 若井俊也—acoustic bass
Yuto Maseki 柵木 雄斗—drums
Guests: Akemi Ohta 太田朱美—flute (track 8)
Yuiga Hayakawa 早川惟雅—alto sax (track 5)
Koki Matsui 松井宏樹—alto sax (track 10)
Perhaps destined to be a guitarists’ guitarist, Inoue may put off some listeners with his pristine technique. Used to more “dirt” in the sound of most Japanese guitarists, listeners may feel Inoue’s clean, neat playing to be too nice and tidy. However, on closer listen, his long, lean melody lines, rounded tone and forward drive become captivating. Put simply, his playing creates stunningly gorgeous music.
The CD has an excellent selection of songs, with often-played standards like “Darn That Dream” that may have been suggested by the EMI producers. But so be it. Inoue delivers those couple standards with care, thought and a very fresh sense of where and how to take it further. It’s his own songs, though, that make the CD outstanding.
The CD has what may perhaps be the only version of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” with flute and delicately amped guitar. One guesses, Jimmy Page was the teenage inspiration for Inoue, as he was for many other guitarists, and he makes the song his own. The deliciously melancholy and stately original “The Other Side of the Earth” is striking in its affect and beauty.
Inoue’s other originals, like the opener “First Train” and another standout, “Village,” are delivered with more than just a complete, mature sense of jazz, they have youthful energy jam-packed inside them, too. This is a straight-ahead jazz guitar recording that should probably just have its own replay button! It should be on the shelf of every Japanese jazz fan.