Kazutoki Umezu “Plays the Enka”
『梅津和時、演歌を吹く。』
(doubt music 2008)
Kazutoki Umezu 梅津和時 – alto sax, soprano sax, bass clarinet, clarinet
More surprising than a CD of enka songs done up in jazz flavors is the lack of CDs of enka songs. The Great American Songbook from which almost all jazz derived its repertoire bears great similarities to enka music, with themes of fate, pride, romance and its many failures and that deep longing for the past. The standards of jazz were mostly originally drenched in sugary popular styles, from which jazz re-worked them into more sophisticated forms. That Japanese jazz musicians have largely ignored the tremendous body of Japanese popular songs is a subject sad enough for its own enka song.
Umezu, thankfully, restores enka to its rightful place as essential to the Japanese jazz psyche. He takes the songs and single-handedly, or rather single-reed-ily, re-creates them from other musical points of view. And if one thing can be said about Umezu, it’s that he has no shortage of points of view. This isn’t just jazz and isn’t just enka, but a marvelous new combo of musical directions. Who will follow him up? Why not more? These songs are just aching to be played as jazz. Umezu leaps in to their complicated interiors, finds the thematic nuances, follows the emotional tangles and turns them into very intriguing new works.
More than setting things right, though, the enka tunes here really work musically as solo jazz material. The melodies are slow and gloomy, extremely well crafted, and savvy in the themes and attitudes they contain. The melody lines perfectly fit the breathing, phrasing and natural rhythms of the Japanese language. That’s jazz at its best: embracing difference, reworking the basics, and emotionally, intelligently conveying the essence of music.
The songs may not be any that most jazz fans, or Umezu fans, knows too well, but the way the sax and clarinet moans fits the feel of enka perfectly. The solo instrument captures the loneliness, yet also the honesty of enka. The crying texture of reeds seems to double the sadness of the melodies, yet makes them stronger, too. Like blues, enka is not just about sadness, though, but about calm resignation to life’s difficulties and finding ways to go on.
Umezu’s playing, so often high-energy and exotic, here sinks into an almost stately confidence. Rather than Umezu-fy them, he really submerges himself into the songs, and the interaction is magnificent. Of course, Umezu is also meditating on the songs, embracing their essence and enjoying the ride, but he plays enka with passion and understanding. This unusual CD’s double thrust, towards improvising freshly and towards reconsidering enka, is a long time in coming, but a pleasure to finally hear.