This was a blast, in every sense of the word. The 16-piece Special Big Band of Japanese underground jazz icon, Otomo Yoshihide, squeezed on to the stage area at a packed Cafe Oto to deliver an unremittingly visceral performance of joyously sustained invention and of outstanding musicianship.
Often working with smaller groups, one of which recorded an album dedicated to Eric Dolphy, a great hero of Otomo, his Special Big Band is, notes one commentator, ‘the culmination of his work as of now’. The Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band is a community of musicians. Many of the current line-up have played in this configuration since 2013 when they recorded the soundtrack for NHK drama series Amachan. Their extraordinary energy and intuitive awareness drew on the rich heritage of big bands which have mixed razor sharp section work with inspired improvised passages yet, with a unique fingerprint, they redefined the concept of the big band in their live performance.
Imagine the ICP Orchestra going into overdrive – or the Sun Ra Arkestra, Keith Tippett’s Centipede or even the greatest of them all, the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Led by composers of vision these key figures have allowed each member of the ensemble to contribute their own individual spirit to performances based on complex scores, with directives to improvise at the drop of a hat. Which is exactly what Yoshihide demands of his flock and which clearly they loved. Moments of laughter burst through when the process of conduction was in full swing within the band.
Conduction, the practice notably championed by Butch Morris, and at the backbone of the London Improvisors’ Orchestra, is a way of spontaneously directing a group of musicians by, in this case, hand gestures, and also with the conductor’s baton. Otomo, not only composer and director, is a seriously heavy guitarist who told the audience that he loves the rock music of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and the like. Directing from the right of the stage he expertly guided his group in this way. Midway through he handed over the baton to the entire band who took it in turns to send the music off in powerfully sparkling directions. It was like a handbrake race, skidding and turning without a break.
There were special moments in the two sets, the first of which started with explosive power, the second with a quietly virtuosic vibes sequence from Aikawa Hitomi. Out of the storm came silence with a fragile accordion solo from Okuchi Shunsuke followed by the deeply felt baritone sax of Suzuki Hiroshi. Kimura Jinya’s tuba, ever present, melodically meandered around Kawai Shinobu’s electric bass lines. Saito Kan’s flute rippled delicately and Kondo Tatsuo had a great, Hammond-style organ break. There were insanely pounding riffs, redolent of Magma’s relentless drive, and Otomo offered a dystopian, Hendrix-inspired solo. A sequence of clapping sustained the rhythms and kept the flow passing from one musician to the next. It was the discipline of the entire band performing musical acrobatics that defined their presence.
A surprising, tight working of I Say a Little Prayer preceded Otomo’s speech of thanks, declaring that he was ‘too happy!’ and explaining that the funding to take such a large group out to Europe for a 13 date tour was a challenge but he had garnered support from several sources and they were able to perform in Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Italy before landing at Cafe Oto and then going on to Belgium and Germany. And they encored on a perfect note – a Charlie Haden composition.
Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band
Otomo Yoshihide: guitar
Eto Naoko: piano
Kondo Tatsuo: keyboards
Saito Kan: flute, piccolo flute
Inoue Nashie: clarinet, bass clarinet
Suzuki Hiroshi: sax
Egawa Ryoko: sax
Higashi Ryota: sax
Sato Shutoku: trumpet
Imagome Osamu: trombone
Kimura Jinya: tuba
Okuchi Shunsuke: accordion
Kawai Shinobu: electric bass
Kobayashi Takefumi: drums
Itoken: drums
Aikawa Hitomi: vibes and percussion
Sachiko M: electronics, sine waves
