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Artist
Yutaka Shiina
12+ albums
jazzpiano
about
Yutaka Shiina, the 43-year-old jazz pianist from Tokyo, is on a short UK tour as co-leader of a coolly authoritative bebop band with the British trumpeter Damon Brown. Shiina has recorded as a leader with the Marsalisites Herlin Riley, Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton, and capped his acceptance as a world-stage contender by working with the late Elvin Jones in Jazz Machine. But he keeps his virtuosity throttled back and maintains a hip expressiveness by letting insinuations, nuances and implied swing, and the subtle tick of the rhythm section do much of the work. He often suggests the graceful delivery and pearly sound of former Miles Davis pianist Wynton Kelly - in this respect, he was the perfect foil for Damon Brown. On a mixture of standards and bop-rooted originals, Brown applied his signature method of warm, rounded phrasing and double-time fills that never sound rushed. The effect is to give bebop, which can be brittle and nervy, a light and diaphanous quality - and the contrapuntal improvising around the themes by Shiina, Brown and saxophonist Christian Brewer further softened it. Shiina, whose impassiveness contrasted with the playful gleam of his improvising, unfurled a shapely solo on the first half's closing standard, letting brief turning phrases that flagged the harmony changes delay the punchlines of galloping descents turning into clamorous chords. Brown's deft runs and Brewer's rugged sound skimmed over mid-tempo swingers and relaxed Latin grooves, and th
