Hayashi Eiichi

Shinjuku Pit Inn
September 8, 2004

Eiichi Hayashi (alto sax)
Nao Takeuchi (tenor sax)
Nobuyoshi Ino (bass)
Honda Tamaya (drums)

This evening was labeled "Plays Mingus and Monk" and that's exactly what happened, though, in Hayashi's uniquely energetic way. The first set started slow, working through the quirks and tangled paths of Monk's tunes. "Beesham's Swing," for example, is not exactly a warm-up number, but it was here that Hayashi and Takeuchi set up the tense interplay that lasted through the evening.

Far from cutting each other, though, they were listening intently, taking time to feed off each other's energy. Each lead line was split, as they intertwined their own melodic statements, and separated like two dancers. At times, they gently pulled apart the melody, and at others they shot off in entirely different directions. That made for fascinating listening even before the solos. They both soon had their teeth out.

Without the harmonic boundaries of piano, the Monk tunes sounded especially interesting, letting everyone play odd rhythms and weirdly juxtaposed notes. It also let Hayashi and Takeuchi's very different characters come out. Hayashi seemed to yank the notes out of his sax, while Takeuchi seemed to be pouring them in. These two different approaches kept the solos vibrant and unexpected.
    

The second set of Mingus swung hard, giving more space to Honda and Ino. Bassist Ino, who holds the bass like an acoustic guitar in his massive, powerful grip, pounded out heavy anchoring rhythms that let the entire band fly all the faster and farther. Honda offered plenty of crisp underneath drum work. On his increasingly long solos, he held the echo of the melody's rhythm. Diverging farther and farther each time, he returned to the song's structure at a higher level, nicely taken up by Ino's deep, muscular bass solos.

On the lamentful "Goodbye Porkpie Hat," Hayashi showed why he put together this evening. He blasted away at the song's firmament, loosening all the emotion inside and letting it flow. Solo after solo brimmed with anger and pain. Takeuchi matched him, working way inside the sax to pull out screaming, scraping sounds that hit home. The celebratory "Better Get Hit in Your Soul" brought everyone into the bluesy groove to reveal, behind the upfront intensity, a deep feeling for the songs and great musicianship.