eMusic Review 0
Stirring live set from a Japanese jazz heavyweight
Although Toshiko Akiyoshi has lived in the US for more than half a century, there is a paucity of her big band compositions and arrangements available to stateside listeners relative to her output in Japan. Let Freedom Swing rights the scales just a bit on this gross injustice. Recorded in Stuttgart with the SWR (SudWest Rundfunk) Big Band in May 2007, it finds the then-78-year old guest artist in vibrant form, commanding 14 horns and a four-piece rhythm section through a dozen of her compositions, including a pair of tunes never previously recorded by her large ensembles.
The first, “Drum Conference (3rd movement),” showcases Akiyoshi's Ellingtonian penchant for spotlighting a musician (in this case conga player Farouk Gomati) without losing either the tight-knit interplay or the propulsive power of the rest of the group. That's followed by the languorous croon of the horns on “Repose,” and the coiled dynamism of an Akiyoshi favorite, “Harlequin's Tear,” also included in a scintillating live version as a bonus track. There are features for bass (the boppish “I Know Who Loves You”) and the baritone sax (“Song for the Harvest”). There are Akiyoshi signatures, such as the Japanese-oriented… read more »
