Junko Moriya Orchestra “Groovin’ Forward”

(Spice of Life 2009)

Junko Moriya – piano

Koichi Osamu – bass

Masahiko Osaka – drums

Eric Miyashiro – trumpet

Mitsukuni Kohata – trumpet

Sho Okumura – trumpet

Ryuichi Takase – trumpet

Yuzo Kataoka - trombone

Haruki Sato  - trombone

Pat Hallaran  - trombone

Junko Yamashiro  - bass trombone

Kazuhiko Kondo – saxes, flute

Hidenori Midorikawa – alto sax

Osamu Koike – tenor sax, flute

Andy Wulf – tenor sax

Dairo Miyamoto – baritone sax

Of course, it would be impossible to go wrong with sixteen of the best jazz musicians in Tokyo led by one of the best pianists, composers and arrangers in Japan. They could just sit silently in a room and great music would eventually emerge. But, Junko Moriya does not rest on her past achievements—two previous big band recordings, several small group recordings, a Thelonious Monk award, and loads of rave reviews from fans and critics alike. All that only seems to make her work all the harder. The result is this exquisite contemporary big band recording, her finest yet.

Eight of the ten songs are Moriya’s originals, with Thelonious Monk’s “Well You Needn’t” and the standard “Beautiful Love” both her arrangements. The compositions and arrangements range beautifully and thoughtfully through feelings, moods, possibilities, and musical textures. The swelling, rising horns and reeds behind each solo, at least one from everyone in the band, offer an especially strong background that really frames the individual expression. The band is listening and contributing even when laying out for a few choruses. On this recording, they are not just working together; they are being together.

The title track gets right into a solid groove, showing off Osaka’s drumming and Osamu’s bass work. Together with Moriya’s piano, they pin down a light, mobile rhythm that never slows or falters, despite carrying the weight of thirteen reeds and horns. The nimble rhythms they create make the total big band sound less heavy than most full-piece orchestras, but more powerful because of that. This lighter flying feeling on many songs makes space for an exploration of dissonances, textures and musical complications. Each song is played on a big canvas loaded with colors.

The especially pretty “Late Summer” features a soft, delicate piano statement that flows easily to the horns then back again like a late summer breeze. This arrangement, like many of the others, is structurally complex, yet feels easy and right. “One for the MPCA,” (Music Pen Club Award) revels in its comfort with a variety of sections, movements, textures and variation inside a single song. The song starts out sifting through sounds for just the right pieces, which all fall into place, just in time for a grooving bop-like solo, then back to the main melody line.

All the tunes stay fresh and unpredictable. There is no filler here. “Farewell” is sadder, slower, and a bit bluesy, with rising support swelling behind each solo. “Well You Needn’t” gives the classic Monk tune a big swing and orchestral richness. It’s an intriguing reworking of his melodic-rhythmic-harmonic genius, one that plays with all of that delightfully. “Thousand Cranes,” the most obviously Japanese title, written for Moriya’s aunt who passed away, has a wistful melody line that flows like a long string of paper cranes, physically delicate, but poetically strong. “This is For Sammy” closes out the CD with a fiercely swinging definition of the title concept groovin’ forward.

What can one say, but “Niiiicccce!”