Yuji Ito

Two for the Road is a 2024 album from bassist Yuji Ito and guitarist Koichi Hirata, working as a duo here on their first collaboration. Both musicians are young, still in their 20s and 30s, yet their style, vocabulary, and tone speak of a maturity born of attentive listening, devotion, and playing experience. They fill the nine-track album with 58 minutes of beloved tunes from the standard jazz playbook and the ballad/swing/bop canon, mostly from the core 1950s and 60s jazz eras: ...

Drummer Hiro Kimura’s debut album from 2022 is Trees, a 61-minute modern jazz album recorded with two of his regular rhythm sections. The album was recorded over two days in the studio, the first with Naoko Tanaka on piano and Yuji Ito on bass, and the second with Mamoru Ishida on piano and Keisuke Furuki on bass. Joining Kimura’s rhythm sections are the front-line members consisting of three horn players who alternate and unite on different tracks. Alto and soprano saxes are played by Akiha Nishiyama and Kohei Ando, and trumpet by Mao Sone, who also switches to piano and Fender Rhodes for two songs. ...

The full title of this 2023 album sets the stage: “/Folds - Live at 100Ban Hall/ by the Hiro Kimura Quintet featuring Kazuhiko Takeda”. Folds is a live recording of Kimura’s quintet playing in Kobe in 2022. Drummer Kimura leads the group featuring special guest Kazuhiko Takeda, whose melodic, soulful jazz guitar is exquisitely framed by the relatively younger musicians. Regardless of age, the unit displays talent, harmonious energy, and reverence for the music they create together. ...