Ken Ota Quartet

Live at Naru April 19

Ken Ota—saxophone
Masaaki Imaizumi—piano
Kiyoshi Kudo—bass
Shinnosuke Takahashi—drums

On the 19th, Ken Ota’s quartet launched into blistering hard bop from beat one. The fast tempo and tight focus on Ota’s original, “Myronical”  left no doubt that the quartet came ready to play, and had the energy to do it. They kept up three solid sets of four songs each of on-target bop and ballads.

Ota’s sax playing always has the right amount of grit. The tone is smooth, but breathy and strong. He has a very individual sense of phrasing, picked up outside the standard play book. He’s not a sax player that tries to be individual just for the sake of being individual, though. Instead, his approach seems to flow from a sharp sense of concentration that unleashes large doses of energy.

The tempo of “You and the Night and the Music,” for example, was faster than most players would choose. Yet, it created new tensions and releases within the prettiness of the chords. Ripping into Lee Morgan and Sonny Rollins tunes also turned out novel takes on their well-known standards. His solos showed appreciation without being easily satisfied.

Ota also gave plenty of time to his bandmembers. That’s wise, as they knew just what to do with their space. Imaizumi pulled phrases from the keyboard at rapid-fire speeds. He occasionally fell into repetitive fingerwork, but no wonder at double-time. His ideas flow out as fast as any pianist around. Shinnosuke Takahashi on drums did a solid job of keeping tempo, and worked in and through the rhythms with a sophistication beyond his years. Kiyoshi Kudo held the center down tight. His bass playing formed a central pole around and from which everyone could hang their ideas.

The quartet obviously felt comfortable with each other. Ota has a keen sense of pacing and picking tunes for each set, so that listeners can find their way into the music from different angles. His playing has developed a broader set of textures and elements in the past few years, and his open-minded approach and deepened experience, along with some excellent original tunes, shows how clearly he’s ready to keep right on playing.