“Swamp” Kaz Minamizawa

Rooster, Ogikubo, August 22, 2008
Swamp Kaz Minamizawa – vocal, guitar
Satoshi Izumi – guitar
Hikaru Sugawa – organ, piano
Hiroshi Eguchi – bass
Tetsuya Hatano - drums

Kazu Minamizawa sings and plays his ass off. That’s the feeling you get from the first note of any of his sets. His voice is liquid gold, flowing into the groove and melody of every song. There’s none of the hesitant “I’m just a Japanese” feel to his singing; he belts out every note with a full range of feelings, from rock-on energy to devastated delicacy. He makes it funky, and then he brings on the soul-man plea. And he does it all while playing one tasty guitar lick after the next.

 

Minamizawa chooses songs from a broad array of great songwriters and performers, but he dips them all into his special batter for a brand-new feel all his own. You can’t quite guess how he could put Stevie Wonder, Tom Waits and Earl King into one set, and then George Harrison, the Band and Marvin Gaye into the next, but he does. All these tunes get his signature swamp-ified treatment. What makes it all work are his fantastic vocals, exceptional arrangements and a killer band. Whether blues, funk, rock, singer-songwriter or soul, each time he kicks into the first riffs, Kaz and band infuse the song with their own flavor.

In the first set, Earl King’s “All Went Down the Drain” kicked off a simmering brood on lost love, followed by Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign” heated up with pungent riffs from Minamizawa and Izumi (a young guitarist to watch!). Tom Wait’s “Ol’ 55” was as nostalgic as the original with Minamizawa’s slow husky voice dig into the pain of the past. No pretence, plenty of gutsy emotion.
 

Then, the rest of the set laid down one funk-pumped chord change after the funky next. “Respect Yourself” from the Staples Singers was delivered tough and tight, with grooves that flowed out of the song naturally. They closed the first set with a searing version of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground,” with solos from Izumi and Minamizawa and Sugawa climbing higher and higher to a sweaty workout for everyone in the packed club. After that, you didn’t want a break, but you needed one!
The second set started with an intriguing version of The Band’s “The Weight.” Just as slow and steady was a nifty re-working of George Harrison’s “Far East Man,” turning the refrain, “He’s a far east man” into “I’m a far east man,” flipping the meaning and making it his own. Ray Charles’ chord changes on John Lennon’s “Imagine,” made the song as heartbreaking as ever. “Let’s Get it On” and “When I’m Kissing My Love” slowly edged up the funk level and the band all nailed great solo after great solo. Sugawa on keyboards and Izumi on guitar dug into every song, mining great flowing melodies and tight rhythmic interplay.

The encore, “Gimme Some Lovin’” felt like it could, and should, just keep going forever. Minamizawa has been on the music scene for a long time, but this band, and this night, felt super-special, meaning: real music with real feeling.