Dojo + E#

Elliott Sharp エリオット・シャープ—electric guitar, bass clarinet
Michiyo Yagi 八木美知依—electric 21-string koto, 17-string bass koto, electronics
Tamaya Honda 本田珠也—drums & percussion

Koen-Dori Classics, Shibuya
November 21, 2019

Listening to this trio is like standing at the confluence of three large, surging rivers. The three musical currents flow together into a powerful new music that rises over the banks and floods the senses. The trio’s show at Koen-Dori Classics was a testament to how musicians with such different backgrounds and approaches can create truly masterful improvised music.

All three brought their own backgrounds, experiences and approaches, and not only from the free improv world. Like all the best musicians, they are great listeners, and great remembers, who bring a broad range of music to their mutual creation. The trading of various musical elements back and forth was one of the most intriguing parts of the two straight-through, high-voltage sets. All three moved easily among heavy metal rock riffs, sharp, biting traditional Japanese tones, thick electric guitar, piercing koto, and the drive and rumble of percussion.

Another of the many pleasures of the trio was the way all three pushed the boundaries of their instruments. Yagi’s koto alternated between rich, full sounds and delicate overlays of tones and harmonies. The mercurial shifts from traditional plucking to rock guitar-like strumming brought together her diverse influences into a singular expression.

That fit together deeply with Honda’s drumming. He worked not just with rhythms, but with sonic textures that added energy and tension. His way of responding on the first half of set, and then pushing in new directions in the second half of the set, kept the dynamics and forward motion of the music dynamic and liquid.

On guitar, Sharp is always amazing, and even more so in the interplay with Yagi and Honda. Sharp’s sense of the fretboard draws from his experience, sophistication but also from a focused sense of playfulness. He used the upper reaches of his guitar with orchestral expansiveness. He strummed and thumbed tones with rich and varied textures. The feeling of anticipation, of ‘wow, what next?’ became its own kind of pleasure. Sharp would stay on the bass notes of his special-made guitar longer than expected, until expectation became unimportant and the excitement of arriving at the next section took over. That is to say, it was truly improvised music.

The trio’s way of interacting was not only provocative, but infused with a deep sense of curiosity and exploration. The audience was less the recipient of musical creation than another floating element in the current of channeled energy. You don’t listen to their music so much as it blankets you with musical force.

Hopefully, Sharp will make more trips to Japan and join up with Yagi and Honda for more of their exceptional creativity and energy soon. Until then, Yagi and Honda’s Dojo is a unit not to miss hearing live.