Avant-Première – “Un carnet de bal”

Avant-Premiere is a trio of saxophonists Hiroshi Suzuki, Ryota Azuma, and Junichi Kamiunten, born at the jazz bar “Lady Jane” in Shimokitazawa. The album is produced by Yutaka Ohki, the owner of the shop and a leading figure in Shimokitazawa who has written numerous books, planned events, and produced CDs. The album features original compositions by Hiroshi Suzuki, who draws sounds intuitively while casually using special saxophone techniques; Okinawa-born Junichi Kamiunten, who approaches rhythmic instincts with his own compositions; and Ryota Azuma, a first-class graduate of the University of the Arts, whose strict repertoire of classical music arrangements unfolds in three dimensions. The program includes Rameau and Coupland, which are played like bagpipes with circular breathing from beginning to end, Kurt Weill’s “Eucalyptus Tango,” which recalls utopia after the Corona disaster, and Saint-Saens’ “Dance of Death,” in which even skeletons leap out of their graves.