TAKEUCHI TOMOYASU QUARTET
Super funk to end the fest!
In one of the last time slots of the festival came one of my favorite sets of Fuji Rock 2017, the Takeuchi Tomoyasu Quartet. They are something of a funk/jazz/soul super group. The quartet features members from 4 different jazz/funk groups in Japan. There’s guitarist Tomoyasu Takeuchi from ‘Super Butter Dog’, Takeuchi Kazutake of ‘A Hundred Birds’ on keys, Soil & Pimp Sessions sax man, Motoharu and drummer Satoshi“Tiger” Okano of Mountain Mocha Killimanjaro fame.
Although the band is called the Tomoyasu Takeuchi quartet, it is often Motoharu on sax who takes the lead and really starts the four into a maddening ascent. All the members are super talented, it was a treat to see this band live. The guys looked to really enjoy themselves up on stage in the Crystal Palace, jamming together and playing off one another, caught up in magical moments when time stands still.
This group doesn’t play together often as the 4 members have their respective groups and other projects that keep them busy, but I have seen this quartet play live once before, a couple of years ago. The experience on this night was similar but with some key differences. The set tonight was less funky than when I last saw them. Tonight was funky to be sure, but it also reached stages where the mood was more intense, noisy and raw.
The band hooked the crowd from the get go with a killer, slow groove version of the classic jazz standard, “So What”. After hearing this track alone, I knew we would be in for a great set. Motoharu went nuts on sax, as he usually does, Takeuchi then took to his distortion pedals and let a blazing solo of noise and groove play out.
The band doesn’t exactly play songs, but instead, solo off one another and lead each other on wild tangents, playing together and against one another. This leads to the band going places musically, that they may have had no idea they’d end up. It’s basically a band that plays one jam after another. When a jam can take anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes to get through, the prospect of a 45 minute time slot seems short.
It was some 20 minutes into the set when the first jam finally died down and the group got on the mic to give greetings and member intros. Takeuchi usually takes mic duties, although this is an instrumental jam band, so the real talking is left to the instruments. Each of the members is highly skilled at their instrument and totally appears at ease and in the moment when playing together with like-minded colleagues. Despite not playing many shows together, it’s clear these 4 have a close rapport, they can read each other well and often anticipate when to jump in or when to step back.
The second jam kicked off with another classic in the form of Dusty Springfield’s “The Look of Love”. As always, things start with a slow groove and work their way up in layers and intensity with this group. Motoharu on sax always seems to be the one who amps things up the hardest and the fastest. Much like his death jazz he plays with ‘Soil and Pimp Sessions’ this man can blow a sax like no other.
Before long our 45 minutes was quickly approaching and our funky freestylers were only a couple of track in. The final jam was led on by keyboardist Kazutake, who started playing with effects which produced tripped out synth rhythms. Takeuchi then upped the distortion on his guitar and joined in, while Okano kicked the drumming into high speed. Of course, this was the perfect time for Motoharu to engage in some intense sax squeals and further add the the wall of noise. It was a frenzied, intense, noisy, but highly skilled jam to end the otherwise funky and soulful jam session.
The powerful closing took me by surprise, but left me with a huge smile glued to my face in the process. Something I realized, is when these 4 get together to jam and play out, expect things to be different. Expect weird, wild, funky, always incredibly technical and skillful, but never quite the same as something they’ve played before. The group harks back to the golden age age of jazz and funk when single songs would last 30 minutes and live recordings would be coveted for their creativity and originality. The Takeuchi Tomoyasu Quartet certainly learned from many of the greats throughout the years and have added their own spin on the art of the jam session. Although they don’t have any recordings available now, I know I’ll pay whatever they’re asking to hear tonight’s performance one more time.
