Takeshi Shibuya "Afternoon" (Rinsen, Japan Communications) 2001

This release of solo piano pieces by Takeshi Shibuya is calm, reflective and elegant. Shibuya is in no hurry to rush through anything and instead takes his time. He stays completely inside the harmonies and melodic flow of each piece, delivering all aspects of the tunes with care and concentration. He lavishes as much attention, for example, on the turn-around at the end of a line as he does on the main melody. Taking the songs at a slow pace, his left and right hand diverge into differing directions then come back together into a thick chord that resound with unexpected rightness. The opener, "I Didn't Know about You" idles along like a lazy summer afternoon. "Body and Soul" leaves pauses, held chords, and single notes, that re-affirms that less is more. The title also captures the interplay Shibuya creates between his technical (bodily) sophistication, which leads him into logical resolutions and complicated harmonies, and his soulful feel, which leads him right into the heart of the pieces. Shibuya's originals sound good in between the Thelonius Monk, Duke Ellington and John Lewis compositions. "Remain," is a lively, rich blues. "Tarirari Blues" has a clever head that opens up into a light, flowing series of improvisations.  "Beyond the Flames" is a slower, thoughtful piece that moves from a mournful minor statement to a stately major resolution--but not completely. The feel is minimalist, as if he wants to end on a happy note, but just can't quite find it and doesn't want to hit a false one. On other standards such as "Stella by Starlight" and "You Don't Know What Love Is," Shibuya leaves plenty of open space and unstated implications. It's not that he doesn't have anything to say, but that he wants to put everything into what he does say. "Mighty Like the Blues" moves into a jazz swing, but even then, Shibuya keeps the pace even and unhurried, drawing out all the subtleties of the blues chords into a very expressive, and very individual statement. This is a very lovely set of piano solos, with hopefully more to come on subsequent CDs.