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Author of Funny Valentine, an acclaimed new biography of the jazz trumpet player and singer, Chet Baker.
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Saturday, 05 November 2016 00:22

Takuya Kuroda - Zigzagger

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Kuroda's talent rains bright colours.  

Takuya Kuroda this is a name you should not forget and I predict interesting projects happening with Takuya in terms of cross genre collaborations. He is certainly in the right music arena having signed to Concord Records. 

I must admit Kuroda is new to me having listened to his 2014 album Rising Son, which peaked at #16 in the Billboard Jazz Album charts March 2014. That was definitely my style of music. Could Zigzagger this debut album on the Concord label surpass this positon? Let us know what you think...

 I would say the album is good providing a variety of jazz sub-genres tracks including hip-hop, neo and afro that provide the subtle under-current. We like this. 

Takuya's pedigree is well rounded in terms of jazz having studied music in Japan then moving to the US to peruse further music studies at Berklee College of Music.  It was there he befriended Jose James and they have been friends ever since. 

This is album number four and each release appears to bring something new for Takuya. I read somewhere that Jose James' advice to Takuya was to produce something that listeners can nod their head to and tap their feet Takuya appears to accomplish this on most tracks. The styles or sub-genres are not original or unique; however, there is something for everyone. A blend of jazz sprinkled with funk, neo, hip-hop and Afro-beats. This could be the key to attracting a wider listening audience and crossing boundaries. Promoters have been doing this for some time and it seems to work for them.  

Many artist and musicians contributed to this album including heavyweight bassist Ron Carter. Ron is well grounded in the jazz history archives; having been a member of the Miles Davis Quintet in the early 1960's.  

Takeshi Ohbayashi takes control with the keyboard lead in Red Spade Black Diamond. Takuya then takes the upper hand over the slow heavy funky drum beat finishing with a clean crisp evanescent solo. 

The self-titled track Zigzagger has a nice punchy horn intro and rides the mild afro groove. Listen out for the trombone solo that reminds me of Fela Kuti. There is no standing still for this track. Tap away to the groove and move. 

For those of you that listen to Snarky Puppy, Don’t Remember How It All Began may appeal to your hip taste of music. It works for me.  

I am happy No Sign does not have the commercial X Factor appeal; it has something better - the RH Factor (see below). In my opinion a much more worthy accolade.  A slow funky jam with plenty of flams. 

Sadly, the weakest track if the album is Do They Know. There are no thumbs up or thumbs down having listened to the track countless times. This could have been a commercial success; the jam is heavy but after listening to the lyrics I cannot make them out, other than "Do they know". The vocal clarity is not very good.

We love a funky clean cut swing and Thirteen delivers this hip tune over a whole seven minutes of bliss. The album has settled into its groove and this gets a dancehall rewind...pull up selector! 

Probably the coolest track on the album, Little Words will even make Mr Ordinary feel cool. This downbeat finger-clicking tune is not for beatniks. It is too cool for them. Did I say this track is cool?

Actors is enshrined around an heavy electro-pop synth and feels slow in delivering that punchy chorus until 1:14. The majority of the track feels sequenced but adds to the variety of this album. The last two-three minutes feels more neo with a sprinkle of Herbie Hancock. This we like.  

Good Day Bad Habit is also a slow neo-jazz tune. This formula seems to work well and pleases many. Just ask Robert Glasper or Roy Hardgrove (RH Factor) it worked for them.

Think Twice is about as Afro-funky as it gets. This Fela Kuti inspired track will be a crowd pleaser and nurtures positive emotion with Roy Ayres type chorus "I really love you, you know I do”. An awesome horn section rocks out this finale accompanied by a great trumpet solo by Takuya himself. 

Takuya is playing at London EFG Jazz festival with Makaya McCaven at the Camden Jazz Café on November 11th 2016 or it can be watched live on Boiler Room.

 

Track listing: Red Spade Black Diamond (3:55), Zigzagger (6:34), I Don't Remember How It All Began (6:39), No Sign (7:11), Do They Know (3:25), Thirteen (7:10) Little Words (6:12), Actors (7:00), Good Day Bad Habit (5:11), Think Twice (5:48)

Musicians: Takuya Kuroda (Trumpet), Rashaan Carter (Bass), Adam Jackson (Drums & Percussions) and Takeshi Ohbayashi (Rhodes, synth) , Corey King ( trombone, voice) , Keita Ogawa (percussion Actors, Do They Know and Good Day Bad Habit), Timothy Allen ( guitar), Amayo ( congas, vocals), Miles Arntzen ( drums), Marcus Farrar (shekere, stick, vocals), (Martín Perna (baritone sax) , Will Rast  (keyboards) , Jas Walton ( tenor sax), Nikhil P. Yerawadekar ( bass, guitar)

Review: Fernando Rose

Read 2261 times Last modified on Monday, 25 September 2017 08:45

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