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Young and swingin’
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| Ego-Wrappin’ take
their cue from jazz, cabaret, and the streets of Shibuya |
Watchers of the Japanese pop scene will have
noticed something taking shape over the past few years. What
first seemed anomalous is now a distinct trend: swing is cool
again. Influenced by the jam band and club jazz scenes, a
number of young Japanese groups have heads bobbing all over
the archipelago.
In contrast to the smooth, mainstream style of heartthrob
crooners like Toku (profiled in the last Japan Beat), the
focus for groups like PE’Z, Phat, and Ego-Wrappin’
is first and foremost on the groove. All three bands can swing
like there’s no tomorrow, and are being booked into rock
venues and festivals alongside straight-ahead rock bands,
or with DJs as part of electronica events.
Perhaps the most successful—astoundingly so for a purely
instrumental band—are PE’Z. Formed only in 1999,
the group began their march up the charts from the streets
of Shibuya, where they jammed near the station as often as
twice a week. Centered around the virtuoso trumpet playing
of founder Wataru “B.M.W.” Ohyama, PE’Z—with
their goatees and porkpie hats—have brought the sounds
of swinging modern jazz to a new generation. What was once
the preserve of Japan’s aging salaryman and musty jazz
cafes is hip once more, and the band’s first full-length
album, last September’s Kugatsu no Sora (World Apart),
proved the point by debuting on Japan’s Oricon charts
at #10, the highest debut ever by a new instrumental band.
PE’Z’s manager at World Apart, Ryuta Moriya, explains
that the trend began to take off in the late ‘90s. “Young
bands started to play jazz after hearing acid jazz DJs in
clubs. Jazz used to have an image as a difficult music, but
bands like PE’Z created simple and accessible arrangements.
The big appeal is real people playing real instruments, and
the energy of their live performances as opposed to watching
DJs spin vinyl.”
Like PE’Z, Phat are built around a lead horn player,
the prodigious saxophonist Daisuke Fujiwara, who created the
band in 1998 after returning from his studies at Boston’s
world-leading jazz institute, Berklee College of Music. And
also like PE’Z, Phat forged a word-of-mouth reputation
jamming on the streets. But unlike that band, Phat’s
sound is influenced more by electronica and the experimental
approach of units like America’s Medeski, Martin &
Wood (who they backed in Japan), than by mainstream jazz.
They have been fixture of the ongoing Organic Groove improvisational
music parties, and headline a record release party in March
for their forthcoming new album, Tayutafu, on Toshiba-EMI.
Of the three bands, Ego-Wrappin’ are surely the most
eccentric. Formed in Osaka in 1996 by guitarist Masaki Mori
and vocalist Yoshie Nakano, the band takes ’30s swing
and cabaret music and gives it a distinctive “Japonesque”
flair that takes its cue from the streets of Shibuya and other
trendy centers of urban youth culture. Ego-Wrappin’ really
began to take off in 2000 with the release of Shikisai no
Blues (multicolor blues), and soon were a staple of Japan’s
rock clubs, even appearing at the Fuji Rock Festival in 2001.
Their latest and third release, meanwhile, was last summer’s
Night Food, on Polydor.
Phat play Shibuya Club Quattro on
March 6. See listings for details.
credit: Liquid
Room
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