Tokuhiro Doi

Circles is a 2021 album from the Kunpei Nakabayashi Orchestra, a ten-member big band led by the group’s namesake leader and bassist. The CD has eight songs and runs for about forty-seven minutes, while the streaming version of the album includes six of the songs. This is Nakabayashi’s third release and the first with his orchestra. It’s an exciting big band sound where the instrumental arrangements are a natural forefront highlight of Nakabayashi’s music written for alto sax, tenor sax, clarinet, flute (x2), baritone saxophone, trumpet (x2), trombone (x2), piano, bass, and drums. All of the players are well-known, hard-working musicians working in and outside Japan in various forms. Special mention is made for trumpeter Takuya Kuroda, the most famous name in this group who is known for major label releases, international jazz festival activity, and collaborations with international musicians in jazz, fusion, and other genres. ...

Tokuhiro Doi’s Amalthea from 2011 presents a modern jazz quartet from Japan led by the evocative tones of jazz clarinet. Although jazz clarinet can prompt thoughts of bouncy big bands and classic swing music, this album veers more towards dark and mysterious shades that will interest fans of creative modern jazz. Doi’s mature compositions embrace the sounds of jazz in various settings: mid-tempo walking jazz, energetic and frenetic jazz, and elegiac European classical sounds. Like many other modern recordings, facets of bebop, hard-bop, and cool jazz influences also surface effortlessly in the soulful music. ...

Pianist and composer Koichi Sato’s 2016 release Melancholy of a Journey features a distinctive jazz sextet: a piano trio adding clarinet and guitar for modern groundedness and cello providing graceful maturity. Sato conceived the main theme while traveling in Norway and viewing a certain painting. The work of art, Art Rolfsen’s “The Big Station”, graces the cover and inspired “The Railway Station”, a four-part suite arranged over four tracks. This music emerges and recedes through tracks #1, 6, 9, and 12, resulting in four distinct songs with common echoes. ...