EQ The Earth Quartet "Headline"

(Geneon 2007)

Osamu Koike – Saxophone

Makoto Aoyagi – Piano

Koichi Osamu – Bass

Masahiko Osaka – Drums     

The latest CD by the Earth Quartet is right on target. Their sixth outing gets right to work, picking up right where their last CD left off. The quartet works a muscular, yet sensitive range that goes right to the gut with basics that many groups try to cover up with frills, fanciness or free jazz tricks. That fooling around is left for other groups to fiddle with. EQ stays right on the earth.

The opener, "7 o'clock a.m." has a great bass solo that kicks into meaty, complicated jazz. The song works its way gradually up to a full run, but their musical attempts to get a morning start are just part of the satisfying delay. Moving back and forth and warming up for the first half of the song, the band then kicks in together mid-way to make their statements. I'm not sure that most jazz musicians ever experience 7 a.m., so it all seems as a revelation about what actually goes on at that time of day, but revelation it is.

The quartet's storytelling capacity and conceptual clarity come in on every track. "Loco Motive" is a "nice" tune that sounds like a standard. The four members all know how to tell a story by walking a bass line, tightening up the drumming and blowing gravelly tones from the sax. The piano is all over "Loco Motive," with the comping and harmonies rich and fresh. It sounds as if it was composed in four-part harmony, one for each of the musicians. Which of course, it was.

"Strikeout Pitch" is taken at a faster tempo with a freer, rougher edge to it. The band leaps from chord to chord with blasts of energy, sinking the ball right into the glove every line. "Golden Leaves" has unusual changes that really catch your ears, but not in any easy way. The melody is lovely, but made more so by the odd meter. The small modulations away from what you expect pull you in, piquing your curiosity and then satisfying it.

Each of the tunes from all four members is superbly composed. All four musicians have their private projects, but blend together well in this quartet through interesting passages enhanced by great arranging. The small sections, like take-outs and bridges between sections, are amazing, small as they are, and show a great attention to form, but a form that flows. The tunes, nifty, neat and catchy as they are, only serve to spring solos that move in juicier and livelier directions. Like all quartets made of independent-minded heavies, they make it all look easy, and more importantly, make it all sound great.