Masahiro Tajika “Tahji” (Forecast Music 2011)

田鹿雅裕 Masahiro Tajika - drums
多田誠司 Seiji Tada - alto sax
岡崎好朗 Yoshiro Okazaki – trumpet, flugelhorn
川上さとみ Satomi Kawakami - piano
高道晴久 Haruhisa Takamichi – bass

Website http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/~tahji/

Masahiro Tajika is one of the reasons I stayed in Tokyo. Years ago, I heard him one night at a small club near Koenji and his drumming made the trio take off and fly. I thought, wow, if there’s more jazz like this, I guess I can survive in Tokyo! I don’t usually think of the drums as the wings of a group, but with Tajika, that description fits perfectly. Tajika has played with almost everyone in Japan who is making serious, straight ahead jazz. He’s been the drummer on nearly two-dozen recordings, yet, strangely, this is the first CD under his own name. It was worth the wait. “Tahji” is an excellent recording.

Tajika called in favors from several leading lights he has backed over the years--Seiji Tada, Yoshiro Okazaki and Satomi Kawakami. Along with bassist Haruhisa Takamichi, the quintet digs straight in to an original from Tajika, “D.T.” This opening tune sinks down deep into a steady blues. This way-past-midnight cool pervades all of the tracks. Kawakami, always a joy on the piano, gets into a laid-back solo on “D.T.” that makes the keyboard ring like a new year’s bell. “The Cupbearers” is a bright and bouncy cup of cheer. Tada really takes off on this one, flying over the changes with passion and energy.

“UGETSU,” the standard by Cedar Walton, and always a favorite in Japan for its Japanese title meaning May, or more poetically, “the rainy month.” Okazaki takes the lead on this number. His trumpet sound has roughed-up edges which add grit and fire, but he always returns to a purity of tone at just the right melodic moment. Kawakami’s solo here comes rich with melancholy, as if she was playing outside under the rain, sadly, acceptingly, unhurried to rush inside.

The thumping odd-metered bass line on “Thadrack” is done with great care and affection. It breaks up the 4-beat openly, just like Tajika does more subtly on every tune. The first solo from Kawakami digs through Thelonious Monk by way of Thad Jones by way of the blues. The whole tune shines, and Tajika’s drumming here is nimble, fleet and enveloping. He drums in a way that drives the other musicians, but also holds them up and talks with them, creating relentless rhythmic interplay.

“Funk in Deep Freeze” and “Mo Joe” are bluesy and hip, great chord changes to show off everyone’s playing and the tightness of the quintet. Tajika’s four originals sound like standards, influenced by his time in Queens, New York. On those tunes in particular, Tajika lets his drums do more talking. He knows how to keep from stepping in front of the others, but to still keep a musical arm around them. Some jazz fans might like more of one or the other in their drummers, but the balance is the quintessence of jazz drumming—working the insides. Combine that with Tajika’s masterful playing and you have very serious jazz.

(October 11, 2011)