Aaron Choulai

The jazz album Blending Tone is the 2012 debut release from the Tokyo-based Akihiro Yoshimoto Quartet. Saxophone player and leader Yoshimoto recorded this with a tightly bound group of musicians including Aaron Choulai on piano, Takuya Sakazaki on bass, and Shun Ishiwaka on drums, working together to blend their tones while staying on top of Yoshimoto’s music. The CD version of this album includes ten tracks running at 54 minutes of mostly original music from Yoshimoto. The popular jazz standard “Body and Soul” is the sole cover tune, played as duo of piano and sax as a gentle closing. ...

Moving Color is the second album from saxophonist Akihiro Yoshimoto and his quartet. With eight original songs drawn from his palette, he blends serious musical exploration and improvisation with elements of modernity, jazz tradition, and a bit of humor. Strength in composition and group cohesion is clear: the quartet plays confidently, as if they are disclosing a secret bit by bit, modestly exhibiting their skills yet playing with brimming energy and a locked-together sense of where they are going. ...