Ryosuke Hashizume Group Visible/Invisible (Apollo Sounds 2013)

Ryosuke Hashizume: tenor sax, loops
Motohiko Ichino: guitar
Koichi Sato: piano
Ryoji Orihara: fretless bass
Manabu Hashimoto: drums, percussion

The Ryosuke Hashizume Group is a thoroughly engaging group with its own unique voice and vision. Their music is indebted to that exploratory ECM label sound, but they bring in such an abundance of their own musicality, elegance and energy, they are very much their own sound. Their way of creating open, exploratory music, while still playing lush, beautiful melody, is quite unique among Japanese groups, making them all the more welcome in the Tokyo scene.

Their most recent release, “Visible/Invisible” was recorded live at their home base of Shinjuku Pit Inn. It is very much live music, with songs stretching well past the ten-minute mark, but thoughtfully composed and carefully performed. The live setting was an excellent choice, because it allowed the musicians to really enter into the song fully, both emotionally and temporally. Also, the recording quality is superb, with no audience noise.

“Journey,” the opener, is slow, even majestic, without a hint of 4/4 beat. In one sense, the members are exploring sounds, textures, notes, interactions and feelings. There is no sense of having to be anywhere at any one time, no hurried constraint from the tempo. Without strict itinerary, their mutual journey is all the more fascinating.

“The Last Day of Summer,” is one of those songs that sound just like the title. The  quick tempo, delicate buoyant rhythms, and lovely melody are just what you’d want to play, and hear, on the last day of summer. The song is lyrical, wistful and very easy to like. Solos build layer upon layer.

“Cycles,” though is the song that really grabs your body. The rapid offbeat drumming and bass lines, insistent and pulsing, put plenty of ground under the Miles-like modal melody. The song has everyone in the group together, finding cycles inside cycles--a guitar chord lingers as the sax spins round, the piano fidgets in the mid-range ignoring the pull of bass and drums before dropping down heavy into the beat again. Hashizume always finds the right way to leave room for all the musicians to work really inside the open spaces.

This is a band that really works together. On “Park,” they build up slowly and gently, with a dark melody, but everyone stepping up to the next level of intensity at the right moments. “Sketch #1” which closes out the recording, like “Cycles” builds on a neat, quick drum beat, with a nice balance of guitar and piano swinging back and forth in the roles, throwing away any false division between melody and harmony.

Hashizume takes the longest solos, which is fair enough, since he’s created all the open space inside these songs. All of the very fine compositions are Hashizume’s. This is an excellent band to hear recorded live, as it captures their smoldering, slow-building intensity, but also great to hear live at the Pit Inn, too. Do both.

May 20, 2014