Satomi Kawakami
Boozy MuseJune 19, 2015川上さとみ Satomi Kawakami – piano小杉敏Satoshi Kosugi – bass菅原高志Takashi Sugawara --drums
Satomi Kawakami has one of the most distinctive and gorgeous voices on piano of any jazz pianist in Tokyo and Yokohama, and that is saying a lot, considering how many piano trios work the many clubs and bars here. Her set at Boozy Muse was a delight from first note to last. Playing with a new drummer, she sounded at ease, as she is so fully in control of her lush, complex compositions and her unique way of working the keyboard.Kawakami got right to work, not calling any of the tunes, but playing with only short breaks between each of her own compositions. She only plays her own originals, which hint at influences from jazz standards, but sound fresh and new. The first tune layered melody on harmony on rhythm in successive layers, braiding the three instruments together. From there, Kawakami played one intriguing song after the next, many of them with very complicated arrangements. She radiates musicality, and after each song, the feeling is of having been steeped in a deeply musical experience.Kawakami works all parts of the keyboard, and unlike some pianists, is not afraid of having the bass notes do a lot of extra work. She knows how to put her left hand not just as a simple counterpoint, but to make it just as melodic as the upper registers. In all of her tunes, she leaves lots of space, suggesting and hinting as much as directly stating. That subtlety gives her playing a fully rounded and multi-dimensional feel.Even when rambling through a nimble-fingered bop piece (her own style of bop), she leaves more openings than closings. She has no sense of hurrying, or overplaying, so her open musical spaces were a felt presence, not just an absence. She never seems to run out of ideas, so she never has to overplay. Her unexpected moves up and down the keyboard were varied and intriguing. At times, she was reflective and fluid, at others set into a Latin groove, and at others rollicking with the agility, but not the storminess, of bop.
Long-time collaborator Kosugi matched Kawakami’s beautiful melodies with solo after solo that sounded like guitar playing several octaves lower. He is a sensitive bassist, ready for the quick shifts of direction and full range of dynamics Kawakami employs. Sugawara on drums is the kind of drummer who fills out the sound strongly and moves inside the playing, filling it out with the right tension and dynamics, switching quickly between sticks and brushes to keep up.Kawakami’s live shows capture her inventiveness and musicality much better than her recorded works, though her CDs are must-have items for any Japanese jazz fan. Live, though, the pleasure of being in a room with someone whose ideas never run out, and who expresses her ideas so wonderfully, is what lingers strongly and resonantly for a long time afterwards. http://www.satomikawakami.com