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Takuya Kuroda: Fly Moon Die Soon's Delicious Future-Funk Throwback
by Rob Garratt
Last time All About Jazz spoke to Takuya Kuroda, just days after the release of his smoky, neo-soul-styled breakthrough Rising Sun (Blue Note, 2014), the Japanese trumpeter was asked what he wanted to record next. “I see myself doing more of a straight-ahead thing," he said at time. “I might do an album with strings." Kuroda guffaws heavily when reminded of expressing this sentiment. After all, Rising Sun was instead followed by the thick funk/fusion workout of Zigzagger ...
read moreChris McCarthy: Still Time to Quit
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Only two minutes into “That's All You Get," the opening track to pianist Chris McCarthy's debut recording for Ropeadope Records, Still Time To Quit, and already it seems that everything that had to be said was said. Maybe that's why at this point the track coincidentally also reaches its end. A savage yet controlled display of friction and constant motion. At its core a rabidly jumping call-and-response structure, the opener displays the leader's scarily-dexterous chops on piano through speed as ...
read moreMatthias Bublath: Eight Cylinder Bigband
by Edward Blanco
German pianist and Hammond B3 organist Matthias Bublath realizes a long-held passion of recording his own big-band and so, after eleven albums to date, Eight Cylinder Bigband finally comes to the fore in splashy audacious fashion, encompassing a musical spectrum which ranges from blues, gospel and soul/funk to Afro-Caribbean flavors documented on twelve swinging compositions. The music is designed around the Hammond organ, Bublath's preferred instrument, but leaves quite a lot of space to feature solos from various players.
read moreChris McCarthy: Still Time to Quit
by Paul Rauch
From 2017 to 2020, composer and pianist Chris McCarthy charted a path as a noted sideman for such notables as Jerry Bergonzi, Ben Allison and Jason Palmer. He was often seen performing with vibraphonist Sasha Berliner and in duet with vocalist Clotilde Rullaud. In short, he has gained a reputation for imaginative and supportive playing. McCarthy's path has been blazed from a renowned high school program in Seattle, to the cloistered realm of the New England Conservatory, finally ...
read moreTakuya Kuroda: Zigzagger
by Luca Muchetti
L'hanno chiamato il nuovo profeta dell'afrobeat, trovando nelle sue origini nipponiche motivo di stupore per un linguaggio e un feel completamente assorbiti e rielaborati in uno stile personale ma ben riconducibile a un filone ormai dalla lunga storia. Il trombettista Takuya Kuroda con Zigzagger, pubblicato dalla Concord Records, arriva al suo quinto disco confermando e ingigantendo il proprio nome fra i grandi del jazz mondiale e firmando dodici composizioni che si dipanano fra il funk e il jazz.
read moreTakuya Kuroda: Rising Son
by Phil Barnes
Remember D'Angelo? Takuya Kuroda and his producer Jose James certainly do--this excellent collection has that loose, swampy, stoned feel from 'Voodoo' closer than anyone since, putting across that feel of thick, still air on a scorching hot, languid, afternoon perfectly. D'Angelo worked because he signposted a way to fuse the classic jazz influenced soul of say Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Al Green and even Prince to modern hip hop grooves without diminishing either genre. By putting that sound into a ...
read moreTakuya Kuroda: Rising Son
by DanMichael Reyes
Awards aren't handed down to individuals that proclaim how tough it is to live in New York. Likewise, it's not news to write that the life of the modern day jazz musician is difficult. If we follow the past two sentences we might come to the conclusion that the life of a New York jazz musician is not a bunch of wine and roses. While prodigies that venture off on world tours before they are legally able to purchase alcoholic ...
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