Takuro Okada - Konoma (Temporal Drift) [Jazz]
- The Slow Music Movement
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's January 1st Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first ***
Takuro Okada sneaks into the newsletter for the second time in a few months, and rightly so. He grew up in Fussa, home of the Yokota U.S. Air Force base, where he honed his guitar chops and soaked up US musical culture. You might remember The Near End, The Dark Night, The County Line, which dug deep into his personal archive of whimsical, experimental ambient guitar recordings? If not then get with the program.
His early grounding in American music left Okada wrestling with the question: how can a Japanese musician honour the music of African Americans without simply borrowing it? The solution it turned out was the idea of “Afro Mingei” a term coined by Theaster Gates, which draws parallels between Black aesthetics and Japanese folk craft, and this album is Okada using those echoes, which are still reverberating across cultures and time, as a spirit guide. And boy does it work.
Calling upon a crack crew of musicians he’s composed six originals and two covers that dig deep into bygone and contemporary American and Japanese fusion, and he’s gone deep. “Mahidere Birhan” opens the album and smartly lays down some Ethio-Jazz roots to nourish the album - East and West are united, and sounding all the better for it. Next up “Sunrise” gives spiritual jazz a rustic Japanese folkloric infusion whilst whispering a call for peace and love. Yes please.
Jan Garbarkek’s “Nefertite“ gets covered next. I don’t know the original, and with 3.5 hours to midnight on the 31st, I don’t have time to check, but this easy grooving cover is smooth jazz with cosmic depth and far-out moments. Don’t get comfortable though, “Galaxy” is going to give you a future jazz beats jolt. Traditionalist don’t despair though “November Owens Valley”, “Portrait of Yanagi” and “Love” reset the album to its spiritual jazz tuning and are all consummately crafted. There’s a pleasant sting in the tale though, as those spiritual jazz vibes are fused onto some low end rumbling golden age hip hop beats. I know I said I wouldn’t look back, but…. Late contender for jazz album of the year?
Playlist Companion
Find Okada in the Slow Jazz Playlist.