Daiki Yasukagawa

The Tree of Life is a 2019 jazz release from bassist Daiki Yasukagawa, pianist Hitomi Nishiyama, and violinist Maiko. These are three musicians who are each leaders of their own projects in Japan with many recordings, side projects, and frequent live schedules. Bassist Yasukagawa and pianist Nishiyama have worked as a duo before and released two albums together, but this album, with Maiko on violin, is the trio’s debut as “The Tree of Life”, a band name that they will continue to use on their followup albums Mahoroba (2021) and New Hope (2022). ...

Renowned jazz bassist Daiki Yasukagawa is actively engaged in a variety of fascinating projects within the Japanese jazz scene. One of those, the Daiki Yasukagawa New Trio, released their first recording with this 2022 album, The Three Roses. The trio’s music and production are in good hands, being led by the veteran bassist and lecturer who consistently appears in live performances and recordings. Yasukagawa has also been running his own music label, D-musica, for many years, uniquely spotlighting select musicians from the Japanese jazz music scene, including some of his albums as well. ...

On Banquet, pianist and composer Sayaka Kishi’s latest album from 2024, her piano trio brightens things up with a banquet of delights. Kishi has long been a musician who loves to explore and mix genres with a sense of fun and dedication, and she is often found playing in Latin, Afro-Cuban, flamenco, fusion, and other groups. While the genres are many, Kishi consistently pulls from her knowledge of jazz standards, pop, classical, and other roots, bound together with swing and Latin beats and ad-libbed improvisation. ...

Jazz singer MIWO’s first album is entitled Tranquillo from 2020. This fifty-one-minute album delivers a sincere and straightforward set of twelve jazz standards perfectly suited to the leader’s modestly beautiful voice. Tranquillo was produced by mentor Hiroko Williams, a well-known jazz singer in her own right, and the result is an album with an authentic approach to vocal-focused jazz albums. While some decorative intros, endings, and arrangements are subtly attached, the performances follow the original music closely to respectfully elevate the original compositions and allow the immediately felt vocals to shine. ...

Memories of T is a 2017 recording from the group TCQ which brings together Japanese and Taiwanese musicians for a cross-cultural jazz collaboration. This quartet features Taiwanese alto sax player Shawna Yang and three musicians from Japan: Naoko Tanaka on piano, Daiki Yasukagawa on bass, and Takeshi Sakamoto on drums. Eight original tracks make up the playlist, two apiece from each member, with a convivial atmosphere running throughout. The music is straightforward and pleasant with swing and bossa grooves underpinning their polished modern jazz sound. ...

A satisfyingly neat outing, Naoko Tanaka Trio’s Memories (2015) leaves a fresh impression of modern Japanese jazz trios. The playing on this album is both playful and precise, with considered arrangements and decorations sprinkled through the welcoming music. Light touches and coordinated rhythmic hits play a role, hinting at styles employed by greats such as the Ahmad Jamal Trio. Attention is paid to the structure of each song, and as with any good jazz record, those structures are filled out with each soloist’s improvisations, bouncing solos off the harmonic movements and the rhythmic frames. ...

Similar in concept to Ray Brown’s Some Of My Best Friends Are… album series in which the legendary bassist plays with assorted partners in jazz, bassist Daiki Yasukagawa’s release Trios II from 2015 features the bassist performing with four different trios assembled from multiple pianists and drummers. A followup to Yasukagawa’s Trios (2010), Trios II brings even more musicians into the recording studio and offers up a new album with the various trios performing 11 songs. ...

Pianist Hideaki Hori lets his dexterous fingers do the talking on In My Words from 2010, a solid jazz trio record from Japan. Hori leads a bright, swinging trio on this jazz record, full of high-energy peaks and steady grooves. Extremely nimble in his playing, Hori’s clearly executed phrases fill his improvisation with exciting patterns and curlicues, urged on by the propulsive anchor of rhythm section members Daiki Yasukagawa on bass and Gene Jackson on drums. ...

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. ...

Taihei Asakawa’s beautiful Touch of Winter from 2013 is a contemplative jazz album rooted in calm emotion: Memory, melancholy, and rebirth combine to paint stimulating music on a pure white winter tableau. The 10 original songs on this album unfold in the emotion-heavy Brad Mehldau vein of modern piano trio jazz. Patient, somber ballads lie alongside straight-ahead compositions thick with melodic effusions, traces of classical influence, and bluesy suggestions as well. ...