Album Review: Continuation from Yuto Mitomi

Album:  Continuation
Artist:  Yuto Mitomi
Label:  Self-Released
Website:  yutomitomi.com
 
Japanese jazz saxophonist and composer Yuto Mitomi makes his debut as a leader with his release Continuation.  Based in New York, Mitomi blends his musical roots with influences of American bebop, improvisation, swing, and straight-ahead jazz.  Featuring eight original compositions and two jazz standards with his arrangements, the album showcases Mitomi's fluency in the jazz framework, leading his band mates Takahiro Izumikawa on keyboards, Moto Fukushima on six string bass, and Kazuhiro Odagiri on drums.

The recording's title is inspired by Mitomi's continuous journey from being a pupil of Japan's folk and pop music to becoming a participant on the Manhattan jazz circuit, discovering contemporary perspectives from modern musicians, shaping his artistic leaning and contributing to the world music market.  Mitomi displays a sympatico with his band mates that enables his arrangements to resonate with listeners like "The Song You Told."  The furling notes of Mitomi's tenor sax converse spontaneously with Fukushima's musings on the bass, creating a comfortable dialogue between the two that invites the listener into their intimate exchange.
 
Mitomi and Fukushima enter into freestyle improvisations along "Dual" with the two diverging and ruminating autonomously, as Izumikawa's organ pulsates in a random scatter, and Odagiri's drums pound out a separate path.  Mitomi's interpretation of Dave Brubeck's "In Your Own Sweet Way" demonstrates the band's autonomous leaning, sputtering and crackling, traveling along separate wavelengths.  The band moves in unison along "Pure Imagination" with the bass and drums creating a slow rollicking beat while Izumikawa's unmoored keys sketch improvised scrolls metastasizing into roaming patterns.
 
The swinging rhythm anchoring Mitomi’s original composition "Joe’s Twigs" acts as a springboard for Mitomi's freestyle saxophone swirls and Izumikawa's frenzied doodles. The arrangement is noted in the press release as being influenced by the legendary tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson.  Continuing along a traditional course, "Kirin" infuses an infectious New Orleans-inspired groove that adds a festive vibe to the recording, as the jumpy quivers of Izumikawa's keys stir up a merriment that moves into the frothy furls of Mitomi's saxophone and Fukushima's bass.
 
Mitomi's blending of traditional jazz principles with contemporary perspectives makes Continuation a reflection of the journey through time from the past into the present.  His collaboration with his band mates shows that his debut as a leader promises further contributions to the modern jazz world market.
 
Musicians:­­­
Yuto Mitomi - tenor and soprano saxophones
Takahiro Izumikawa - piano, Rhodes and organ
Moto Fukushima - six string bass
Kazuhiro Odagiri - drums