High-Charged No Charge Night
10th Anniversary!Phone-Bone and Mike Price QuintetMarch 3, 2011B FlatPhone-BoneSeiji Tada – alto saxMayuko Katakura - pianoYuzo Kataoka - tromboneSatsuki Kusui – bassKazuaki Yokoyama – drumsMike Price QuintetMike Price – trumpetHideo Oyama – alto saxHiroshi Tanaka – pianoTadashi Sase – bassYoshinobu Inagaki - drumsB Flat has gone out of its way, and into its pockets, to offer no-charge nights for years. Now in its current location for 10 years, they wanted to celebrate. No better way to do that than open up the club and let people walk in free for four great sets of sizzling jazz.Of course, that’s how it often used to be in the jazz world—free music but you pay for your own drinks and food. The idea seems a good one in Tokyo and with two great bands, it was a special pleasure. The house was packed, the musicians stoked, and the audience was there to celebrate.Tada Seiji’s 1st set kicked things off with hard-swinging post-bop. Long one of the best sax players in Tokyo, he has now become an excellent group leader. The band was together, excited and ready to play with a youthful zing that kept each song moving along strongly and deeply. “Hunting Tiger” closed things out with a fast-tempo that let everyone in the place get in time.
The Mike Price Quintet took the stage and kicked off with “Spiralization,” a minor blues, that spiraled up and up and around and around, with a solo from Oyama on sax that was especially compelling. “Mingus Among Us” dug into stop-start rhythms and complicated chords, but headed towards gutsy territory just the same. The thickly buttered solos were heavy with jazz roots. The ballad, “True Lover’s Dream” was sexy, slow and lovely. The set ended with singer Harvey Thompson jumping up to add deep vocals and great scatting vocalic solos.It felt like a lot of great jazz already when Phone-bone stepped back up on stage after a very short break. Their second set started with a great sax and trombone intro to “All the Things You Are.” The sax and drum back and forth that closed out the song was a fascinating update to the standard, with everyone in the band cranking up and playing hard. “Good Morning Heartache,” a funeral parade of a ballad, eased down into taut solos cushioning deep, brawny blues feelings. The solo from Katakura really soared. A New Orleans second line blues took out the set with everyone about ready to get up and out of their seats. It was an anniversary party after all!
Mike Price started his second set with a Freddie Hubbard piece that was cool, tight and right in the pocket. Always choosing great songs from the post-bop era, Price dished out one spot-on solo after the next. His trumpeting matched perfectly with Oyama’s sax, the two horns settling in together as a solid melodic front line. “The Egyptian” was weird, slow and fun. Its odd, unexpected shifts and almost eerie tonalities gave everyone in the band a chance to solo broadly and fully. “Dis Here,” a funky blues from Cannonball Adderly, got the crowd cranked up to get loaded into a bumpy take on the usually sweet Johnny Hodges’ piece “Jeeps Blues.”
For the encore, Kataoka and Tada came back on and joined the fun. It felt like the solos could go on forever. Everyone applauded B Flat, one of Tokyo’s best jazz venues, and offered a big congratulation on its ten-year anniversary! Here’s to ten more!