George Otsuka Quintet - Loving You George (Wewantsounds)

A timely reissue of the George Otsuka Quintet’s 1975 live set by Wewantsounds is Japanese jazz as lockdown palliative

The current shape of the world means that many of us are spending inordinate amounts of time in our own rooms, so it is more freeing and revitalising than ever to be transported to another. In a room within the Nemu Jazz Inn one night in 1975, the George Otsuka Quintet laid down Loving You George and, through the efforts of the Wewantsounds label, this is a possible destination in 2021. Unavailable on vinyl since a late-seventies reissue by Japan’s Bellwood Records, it is most certainly a desirable space for listeners to arrive at.

Much like last year’s reissue of Shirley Scott’s One for Me from Arc Records, Loving You George might just be the lockdown palliative you are looking for. Both albums are expressively free while also offering an experience of comfort. These four pieces carry percussive weight, as Japanese drummer George Otsuka keeps things tough and light with real flair throughout. “Little Island” is the first port of call, an original piece by the quintet’s Fender Rhodes man Fumio Karashima, that keeps opening doors and shifting scenes in the manner of a dream journey. The pace quickens with a sax-fueled downtown chase sequence on “Something Everywhere” while John Coltrane number “Miles Mode” hits the spot as it gets percussively abstract. The quintet close the set in fine soul jazz style, with an irresistible take on Minnie Riperton’s “Loving You”, exuding that lights up, never wanting to go home again feeling. It’s about living in the moment, even if that moment originally took place in 1975.

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