Tamaya Honda’s "Planet X" (EMI Japan) 2000

Drummer Tamaya Honda leads his own trio and is much in demand for recording sessions. He also backs up many of the best players in town, as do the other members of Planet X. Their sound owes the most obvious debt to Miles Davis, especially with the synthesized trumpet of Issei Igarashi in the center of the mix. His trumpet soars all over the skies, landing from time to time, but rarely for long. He solos with a minimalist style that draws you into the funky numbers and spaces you out on the introspective ones. Yasushi Yoneki lays down fat, thick bass lines to keep a deep bottom and a funky flow. Honda holds the entire group together with drumming that has the subtlety of jazz but the explosive power of rock. Honda also, rather unusually for a drummer, wrote most of the numbers on their CD of last year, “Planet X.” Their live shows are high-energy affairs, even when slowing the tempo. The lean keyboard synthesizers and sharp electric guitar open up a lot of space without congesting the middle range. Though they have recorded only one CD to date, their years of experience with each other and with many other bands create a rapport tight enough take off in the same direction at the same time or to hunker down and dig deeper into an especially juicy groove.