Daiki Yasukagawa Trio: Kanmai

Like the expansive cover depicting a peaceful blue ocean and sky, jazz bassist Daiki Yasukagawa’s trio on Kanmai creates a mood of a rolling deep and lofty grace.

The album includes nine modern jazz tunes, most being original compositions from Yasukagawa, and one each from pianist Sato and drummer Hashimoto. Two standards are also included, a swingy, stylish “Long Ago And Far Away”, and a bowed-bass feature on “Greensleeves”, a delicate, sacred performance heavy with emotional weight.

Opening with atmospheric space, unhurried and patient, the modern sound develops with a fun looseness based on confidence and skill; the music soars and swings with thrilling percussive, melodic, and bass interplay. These players bring a lot to the performance, listening and responding to each other throughout, reacting and embellishing each other’s ideas and open spaces with exquisite taste.