RM jazz legacy

The Palace of Jazz!

Fourth up on the Sunday soul sessions in the Palace was RM Jazz Legacy. This five piece jazz band from the Tokyo area was here to tone things down for a bit and deliver us some pure jazz. Though the band has five members, including bass, trumpet, keys, drums and guitar, it is really Shinpei Ruike on trumpet that is front and center and stands out in the group. He is the most skilled of the bunch and plays with a Dizzy Gillespie, puffed cheek style of trumpeting that is hard to take your eyes off of. Through this style of circular breathing he is able to bust out solos and single tones minutes in length.

The band started off a little downtempo, more spacey sounding, perhaps wanting to calm the crowd down a bit after the dance circles getting a bit out of hand during the previous set. As they progressed, each member got a chance to solo and show off a bit. Even though trumpeter Shinpei is front and center and the most talented, everyone in the band is quite good. They each got their chance to shine for a few minutes at least. Often Shimpei would sit off to the sideline and let the band go, he would occasionally chime in, busting out insanely fast trills or messing with effects pedals he had hooked up to his trumpet.

As the set was more intricate and technical than usual, the crowd seemed appreciative but often struggled to keep up on the dance floor. Those who got it however, seemed truly appreciative of the great skill they were witnessing from Shinpei and the gang. With everyone in the band getting their solo and doing their thing, the set time quickly evaporated. I think Shimpei started to notice this and got worried he wouldn’t have time for the last say to close out the set. With a quick nod from the next DJ up on deck, Shinpei went to work, running the set time about ten minutes over, but giving us some blazing solos, sonic blasts and swirling rhythms. Through it all, it was one of the more technical displays of the whole festival and something that leaves us jazz fans exiting the stage with huge smiles, while shaking our heads in disbelief.