Trio Samadhi

トリオサマディ
Una Mas, Mitaka
April 11, 2019

Yuki Arimasa ユキ•アリマサ—piano
Hisatsugu Suzuki 鈴木央紹—tenor saxophone
Dairiki Hara 原大力—drums

“What is that melody?” one wonders when the trio opens each innovative introduction. The name usually only becomes apparent later, but that’s soon enough, because the trio really isn’t about playing another version of a known melody. It’s about creating fresh, new music in the moment. The trio’s music comes out strongly, expanding on what the tune could become.

When all three musicians play together, their group sound is never forced or over-planned, but flows naturally. With no bass in the trio, Arimasa and Suzuki have greater freedom to roam and explore. Without a bass, there’s no need to be anywhere anytime. The trio can add, accent, comment without having to keep time or harmony too tightly. The freedom from restrictions lets each of their voices come out more fully. With Hara on drums, the interplay stays intricately open. They use their freedom to create marvelously fluid explorations. Without the bass, less ‘grounding’ means more openings. What’s unstated in their interplay is as important as what’s stated. Drums tend to rhythm-atize the music, but this trio moves with a consciousness of feeling and insight rather than a need to arrive at certain points in time.

On drums, Hara plays loosely and freely, even devilishly, trying to see what he can get away with. That makes it fun to hear all three listening to each other to find out what the conversation topic really is. They always nail it. Suzuki moves beyond the limits of the score (what’s that tune again?) and searches for what the song is capable of. Arimasa pushes to find more and more what the tune’s chords might suggest. The chords and melodic line feel like sketching that the trio paints with colors.

Arimasa’s fluid playing feels more textural than melodic, more three-dimensional and ranging. Less concerned with getting the lead line across, he works across the full range of the keyboard for a combined left and right-hand holism. Whether playing “Darn That Dream” or one of his own compositions like “In the Mist of Spring,” the trio layers on delicate musical tissues, waiting to be teased apart into fuller imaginings. The trio delivers delightfully intricate, compellingly listenable jazz.