守谷美由貴 on Jazz of Japan | Brian McCrory

Miyuki Moriya: Beyond the Sea

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Beyond the Sea is saxophonist Miyuki Moriya’s fourth album as a leader, which she released in 2024 with her regular quartet of Mamoru Ishida (piano), Junichi Sato (bass), and Sohnosuke Imaizumi (drums). This album contains nine tracks over sixty-eight minutes and features mostly originals from the saxophonist, with two specially selected cover songs from Japanese jazz musicians that influenced her most in her jazz life.

One of those personal heroes is saxophonist Kosuke Mine, who joins the group as a special guest and adds his engagingly vibrant tenor sax sound on five of the nine tracks. Those include two of the album’s peaks for excitement (the edge-of-your-seat #2 “Flip a Coin” and the funkily thrillseeking #5 “Maverick”) as well as Mine’s introspective ballad #7 “After the Checkout” where the two saxes converse over melancholy piano chords to set a dramatic scene.

Miyuki Moriya: Uta Oto

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Uta Oto from sax player Miyuki Moriya is a modern jazz album full of emotion and spirit… a bit spiritual, even. The music created by Moriya’s trio ranges from brooding and wistful, to simple cheer, folk, free, and comforting. As the music plays the mood passes from somber strife to resurgence like a theme hinted at in the liner notes, a story of rejuvenation through musical inspiration and partnership.

In addition to playing original jazz with her long-running quartet, Moriya has also led less common formations including drummer-less trios (with sax, piano, bass), bass-less trios (sax, piano, drums), and chord-less trios (sax, bass, drums), as well as groups focused on the music of famous Japanese jazz musicians and composers.

Miyuki Moriya: Cat’s Cradle

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Miyuki Moriya’s Cat’s Cradle from 2010 is modern jazz album from an alto sax quartet featuring engaging sounds and improvisation from exciting musicians. The allure of this album is deepened by the sax leader’s catchy originals, and listeners who are stimulated by angular jazz will be pulled into this music and want to return to these songs again and again.

Also distinguishing the sound is the edgy, metallic sound of the alto sax and the funky, crystalline drumming, with stylish planes of piano and guitar and gliding over the deeply full bass lines. Drummer Sohnosuke draws attention with a concentrated hip-hop energy driving the odd-meter songs, and, along with steady bass lines from Ikejiri, keeps the listener anchored even through unusual rhythms beyond standard swing patterns (see Sohnosuke’s Rin (2018) for similar sounds.)