Front Page Orchestra

Live April 1, 2003 at Body and Soul

Toshio Miki—tenor sax
Atsushi Ikeda—alto sax
Shuichiro Issei—trumpet
Sho Okumura-- trumpet
Masanori Okazaki—tenor sax
Yuzo Kataoka—trombone
Jun Yamaoka—euphonium
Shigeo Fukuda—piano
Masayuki Tawarayama—bass
Toru Takahashi—drums

The Front Page Orchestra has the brash punch of a big band with the tight swing of a bop quartet. In fact, the orchestra is a tentet, and an excellent one. Despite the audience drain to cherry blossom parties, the Orchestra sat down on time and got right to work. This group is just the right size, big enough for high energy, but small enough to be flexible.

The musicians are well chosen by leader Toshio Miki, though scheduling them away from their other groups must be difficult. They all have a lot to say, and stand itching to be given the nod to take off and explore their musical ideas. Miki kept the soloing distributed around, so no one knew exactly when they would be asked. That kept everyone paying attention and avoided stock phrasing. Towards the end of each solo, the orchestra leapt back in to push the soloists hard for the last few rounds.

The rhythm section kept the current flowing with hard-driving patterns. Knowing that such good support would be there allowed the soloists to really take off. The fit between the rhythm section and the soloists was snug. Not only because of the high level of musicianship, but because everyone in the orchestra is clearly devoted to the orchestra, the ease of camaraderie drove everyone to play their best.

Unlike other bigger bands, the Front Page never feels like two bands--one big, one small--but shifts between the full group and the solo unit seamlessly. Other large bands often have a disturbing energy drop when solos start or an overpowering loudness when the full band comes back in. The Front Page controls these dynamics especially well, with smooth tempo and volume shifts and a rich sonic blend. That’s all the more surprising since they had no miking or amps. The tone and transitions felt completely natural and unified.

The orchestra frames its solos in fresh arrangements and confident flexibility. Miki does many of the arrangements, which have a creative vision to them. More than that, though, the members all knew the arrangements down pat, hardly looking at the difficult charts much of the time. With some bigger bands, the musicians often feel like their stumbling through the charts for the first time. (And they often are!) The Front Page Orchestra is clearly well rehearsed with every shift and turn known to everyone.

The only regret of the evening was it looked like they had more charts they didn’t get to play. That’s OK, everyone in the audience will be back to hear them again, and their usual crowd will return after the obligatory cherry blossom viewing parties finish.