George Ohtsuka Quintet
Loving You George WE WANT SOUNDS. CD/DL/LP
UK debut for cult Japanese jazz album from the ’70s.
A dexterous Tokyo-born drummer who started out in saxophonist Sadao Watanabe’s band in the 1950s, Ohtsuka had became one of his country’s most famous jazz men by the early ’70s. Visiting American musicians that played with him – including fellow drummers Roy Haynes and Jack DeJohnette – were impressed by his blend of raw energy and rhythmic sophistication, qualities present in abundance on Loving You
George, an album recorded live at the Nemu Jazz Inn in 1975. Ohtsuka’s propulsive polyrhythms impress on the highoctane modal cuts Something Everywhere and Miles Mode, but it’s his subtlety that catches the ear on the set’s satisfying finale, an inspired funky soul-jazz take on Minnie Riperton’s iconic ballad Loving You. Sadly, Ohtsuka died last year but this fine reissue will undoubtedly help to keep his memory alive.