Mike Price Quintet
Jazz Club "J" November 9, 2007
Mike Price - trumpet
Toshiki Nunokawa – guitar
Kei Shibata – piano
Tadashi Sase – bass
Yoshinobu Inagaki – drums
The tonal, technical quality of this fine quintet is only part of what makes this quintet magic. The other part is the emotional handling of the well-chosen tunes with calm, composed energy. Price's latest quintet works together with a savvy sense of how to open up tunes to really get inside them and reveal their emotional heart.
A blend of bop, post-bop and west coast jazz, the guitar and trumpet lay down a very cool sound. That does not mean soft or easy, though, as both Price and Nunokawa are high-energy players when the song demands it. Both of them can really rocket out delicate flurries of great soloing, and do, on every tune.
On a tune like "Spiralization," both they are joined by pianist Shibata to really dig into the complexities of the composition without letting on they are doing it. That style of hiding their great chops is old-school humility, an attitude always appreciated as it becomes more and more rare. On a tune like "Tin Tin Deo," less experienced musicians might play too fast and too strong, rather than let robust, measured solos emerge naturally. Price, clearly in charge of the quintet, keeps the quintet poised and balanced.
Shibata on piano added his fair share of powerful solos, too. Playing off the rhythmic accents of the guitar gave him plenty of wide-open space to explore. Especially on well-known tunes like "So What" and standards like "There Will Never Be Another You," Shibata's solos sounded fresh and expressive. He knows his way around modal scales as easily as classic changes, and pulled great solos out of both hats.
Inagaki on drums is a wonder. His playing is the definition of tasteful, and even at his most restrained and nimble, he brings the whole quintet into a thoughtful and invigorating drive. His support and solos contain as much melodic as rhythmic sense, a special combination that only a very few drummers can manage. Inagaki is one of those drummers who make complexity look easy. His solo exchanges with the other players were packed with creative tension.
Price also brought plenty of originals to the show. His tunes, like "Charlie from Jes Around," (dedicated to Charlie Parker), are accomplished and lovely. His "Touch and Go" is a relentlessly hard-driving pleasure. The quintet knows just how to dig into these numbers alongside the standards, with Price making eloquent statements on his own songs. The quintet has been playing around Tokyo more and more these days, and should be heading into the recording studio soon!