The Most

December 1, 2005
Ochanomizu Naru

Seiji Tada—saxophone, flute
Akira Ishii—piano
Masahiko Osaka—drums
Shin Kamimura—bass

The Most is a band that moves together as one. They know how to share every musical direction and every musical impulse. Rather than use this intimacy to take it easy, as some groups around town often do, they use this closeness to create even more interesting and unpredictable music. They can't easily predict where the others are going, but somehow intuit it and get there anyway. That makes for music freed from many of its restraints, and for a band that creates music together as a close-knit unit.

That quick mutual response time lets them switch through variations of rhythms in one song and open up the music to its broader potential. With their own compositions, the quartet clearly knows the music deeply, but more importantly, they see the compositions as still living material to work with. They spring up on the tunes like they are wild animals, still dangerous and yet capable of going far.

All the musicians have a light touch. They are never in a hurry and have an easy confidence. Whether on Naima-like ballads, Ornette-Coleman like blasts, or heavy post-bop (like "Hunting Tiger"), they never overplay. A tune like "Straight Flash" shows how in sync with confidence they all are, while a tune like "Second Half" is open, yet deliberate. Their musical maturity never lacks energy, yet never spends its energy too quickly, either.

The small touches, though, really make the band special. Tada's flute playing added a special flavor in the second set, while the sax and drum duet in the first stage brought the band to its full level of energy. The solos shifted from cool to sauntering to intense, but always the others know right where to accent, counterpoint and encourage the others. Change-ups in tempo and chords kept the music heading where you couldn't expect.

The compositions, like "Shouting" and "Everything" felt jazzed completely, but in addition they had an openness to them that made them perfect soloing vehicles. The soloing, though, always maintained a strength of melody and a subtlety of rhythm that most bands forget in the rush to throw out as many notes as possible as quickly as possible. This kind of closeness in a group is a very rare thing, but when the group focuses on soloing, as The Most loves to do, it is even more amazing, and even more rare.