Yoshio Suzuki East Bounce

“Live at Body and Soul”
Shigeo Fukuda Trio

“Live at Body and Soul”
Shigeharu Mukai Quintet

“Live at Body and Soul”
(CD/DVD) (M-Square)

These three DVDs are a revelation. They capture the experience of being in Tokyo’s jazz clubs with great sensitivity, sense and care. Recorded at Aoyama’s Body and Soul, one of the premiere clubs in Tokyo, the sound and look are superb. It is sometimes easy to forget how visual jazz is. Watching the dance-like movements of the players, seeing the look on their faces and the way they themselves move to the music they are creating, is another experience entirely from “just” listening. The editing on these DVDs is especially well done, with good close-ups, balanced distance shots and an excellent eye for framing.

The camera focuses in the right place at the right time. Having chosen three excellent live groups helps too. Yoshio Suzuki’s bass is accented well by the tap dancing of Ayako Ukawa who adds not only visuals, but complex rhythms. Shigeo Fukuda plays piano with many of the best groups in Tokyo, but here he takes his own quartet through two full sets of hard bopping gems. Shigeharu Mukai is a Tokyo institution, in all the best senses of the word, and this quintet is captured especially nicely in both their lyrical and hard-bopping excellence.

Hopefully, these three DVDs are just the beginning, as Body and Soul has a roster of excellent groups all begging to be captured on high-quality sessions. The only thing missing from these DVDs is the smell of whiskey and tobacco.