Yosuke Onuma Band

Caught Live at Roppongi Pit Inn
April 2, 2002

Yosuke Onuma—guitar
Yuta Kaneko--keyboards
Ken Ota--saxes
Hidenobu Otsuki—drums
Kenji Hino--bass

During the first song, something was wrong. The band was in high gear, romping with high-energy, but nobody was clapping after the solos. This jazz formality of clapping is virtually compulsory in jazz clubs, as sacrosanct as clapping before prayer at a shrine. But here was Onuma’s band, playing their hearts out on “Freedom Jazz Dance” from his first CD, last year’s “nu jazz,” yet the audience was not clapping. Strange.

Then it dawned on me. The audience weren’t jazz maniacs, they were just young people out listening to great music, pure and simple. They didn’t know the jazz club protocol. I felt relieved. They showed their appreciation for the soloist’s virtuosity not with clapping but by grooving and bouncing in their seats, clapping with their whole bodies in essence. And they kept it up all the way until the end of the second set. Their good-time attitude was infectious all around.

On the first set, the quintet stuck with numbers from the CD, laying down solid solos. Every player worked the beat into tight rhythmic bundles. “Freedom Jazz Dance” moved from its contemplative intro to hang-loose funk. Their version of Sting’s “Saint  Augustine in Hell” lit a low flame, then turned up the gas little by little to a high burn. On the ballad “Alison,” Onuma chorded with confidence, bringing the volume down without the amp at one point so you could hear the strings directly. The final song of the set broke open with a wild bass solo by Kenji Hino that set the tone for the second set.

The second set found everyone busting loose on solos. Yuta Kaneko was the next to go, laying down an incredibly thick, syrupy organ solo. Ken Ota shed his usual post-bop skin and played some serious funk that turned the temperature up to high. Hidenobu Otsuki was next in line, pulling out a blistering drum solo near the end of the set. Of course, all along Onuma laid down long, flowing lines that kept his sharp rhythmic sense in the right proportions. As a leader, he understands that the band need not be afraid to play to the crowd, as long as they don’t lower their standards to do so. Even the funkiest solos gave a thoughtful, clear form to the energy bubbling inside, and showed that, once a band is made up of like-minded players of equal skill, attitude just might be everything.