Takuya Nakagawa Trio
Organ Jazz Club, NakanoMay 1, 2016
Takuya Nakagawa中川卓也—guitar
Yoshiki Uta宇多慶記—organ
Akira Igawa井川 晃—drums
Kicking off with “Moanin’” was the right way to start a funky, cool evening of organ-guitar-drums. Nakagawa, Uta and Igawa fit together tightly. They played a full-on evening of bluesy, funky jazz. The trio harkened back to the style of Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery, among others, the rhythms locked in place by Igawa, a drummer who never overpowers but always powers.
Nakagawa, as leader, stayed mainly with well-chosen classics, but he liked to juice them up with complicated chords and far-ranging solos. “My One and Only Love” was delivered at a slow tempo, with pretty melody lines unfolding into longer and lusher harmonies. “Wave” was especially lovely, with the Hammond B3 and the guitar syncing perfect together. “Caravan” swung hard, with plenty of time given to Igawa to fatten up the rhythms.
Whether playing tight B3 trio grooves, blues, jazz or all of those mixed together, the trio was fluid and nimble. The tight focus on complicated sections always burst open into fun, funky comfort. In the second set, Nakagawa dug deep into the blues with exceptionally deep feeling. His complex guitar chords seemed to stretch his fingers far and wide across the fret board. Playing with quickly strummed four-string chords as often as single note lines, his sound was crisp, clear and impressive.
Uta on organ kept the bass going with his left hand more than with the organ pedals, but that made each song a bit funkier, with strong rolling bass lines. His organ solos held onto a great tone and spot-on rhythm, even while working complicated harmonies. Igawa’s solos came in only a few spots, but they really grabbed listeners with well-tuned drums that kept the melody intact even while piling into the rhythm.
Nakagawa’s playing was the center of the evening. His guitar style is his own, but draws on so many of the greats. Whether digging through the theme song for Beverly Hills Cop or making “This Masquerade” sing like a vocalist, the range of his playing was impressive. This is one of those trios whose depth makes you realize they have so much more to play, even after they played so much.