Koichi Sato: Embryo

Aug 23, 2024

Koichi Sato’s two-disc album Embryo is another remarkable showcase for the talented composer/arranger/pianist. Unfolding the gift-like box presents two CDs enclosed in an all-paper-and-cardboard-constructed package, a pleasing way to open the concept album. The placid cover art also carries a surprise, one that is illuminated when the lights are turned down for a listening session.

The concept is made clearer in the titles of the two discs, Disc 1 “Water” and Disc 2 “Breath”. The two titles perhaps symbolize the transition from womb to world, and describe the sounds of each side. The first disc has Sato playing fourteen of his songs on solo piano, and the second finds Sato playing with small ensembles on twelve tracks, with some of his songs rearranged and repeated between the two discs.

Apart from his jazz and piano work, Sato has recently been involved in movie music, and this seems to influence the personality of this album’s music: evocative and descriptive, beautifully moving and played with finesse.

The first “Water” side features Sato alone on a richly-sounding piano, a Bösendorfer tuned in Vallotti temperament for a subtly changing sound character which is said to produce expressive feelings that can produce different effects for different chords and keys on the piano. Ever thoughtful, no doubt Sato considered and experimented with the harmonics and resonances unique to this particular tuning to enhance his music.

His solo piano is delicate and dramatic on disc 1, and most songs on this side fall in the 2-4 minute range. Some pieces sound like sketches of emotional moods, and others are expertly and cinematically developed, with melodies and constructions with that ideal quality of being perfect musical ideas that were just waiting in nature to be discovered and performed, to be made apparent by an artist.

Like statues from blocks of marble, the shapes emerge as if they were latent forms, waiting for a natural genius to expose them. Sato pulls his shapes out as formed tunes that are sublime, and unlike stone, soft, warm, and gentle, or dramatic, melancholic, and suspenseful. They are tunes that may seem preexisting or obvious later, when looking back, but only after the composer discovered them, wrote them down, performed them.

The ensembles on the “Breath” side also feature Sato’s compositions and piano, adding in variations of subsets of a jazz quartet (piano, guitar, bass, and drums) and subsets of a string quartet (two violins, viola, and cello). Disc 2 songs are generally longer and in the 4-6 minute range.

After Sato, long-time collaborator and guitarist Motohiko Ichino has the most playing time, joining Sato for a majority of the twelve songs. The other instruments (bass, drums, cello, two violins, and viola) weave in and out on different tracks in combinations of duos, trios, quartets, quintets, and octets. One suspenseful song, #4 “Draw” also includes an ambient soundscape musician, who colors the music with water and rain sounds for added tense imagery.

The comfortably pleasing audio quality for Embryo features a slightly muted sound evoking a dark, spacious chamber. The recording is mono, which can be easily assumed to be part of the conceptual environment that the album constructs.

Yet, this non-stereo choice is a decided characteristic of this album’s record label Nagalu. This label was founded by drummer Shinya Fukumori, who also plays on this album and has had monaural hearing since birth. The sound is pristine and connects with the transcendent music for a direct effect.

While some tracks (8) are rearranged and repeated on the two discs, group formations and performances differ (as do the physical pianos and their tuning systems), but so does the track sequencing order.

For example, two of the album highlights, the folksy nostalgic “Hua” and hopefully uplifting “May Song”, are played on both discs, but in reverse order: On disc 1, Sato plays #10 “May Song” followed by #11 “Hua”.

On disc 2, a guitar/piano/bass/drums quartet plays #11 “Hua” followed by #12 “May Song” with a piano/cello duo, the final track that tenderly ascends to high peaks for both this side and the double album itself. This choice is a great one, emphasizing the care and thought put into the music and overall direction.

Embryo by Koichi Sato

Koichi Sato - piano, compositions, arrangements
Motohiko Ichino - guitar (Disc 2: #1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11)
Masaki Kai - bass (Disc 2: #1, 7, 8, 9, 11)
Shinya Fukumori - drums (Disc 2: #1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 11)
Aya Ito - violin (Disc 2: #4, 6, 7, 8)
Yuko Kajitani - violin (Disc 2: #6, 7, 8)
Atsuki Yoshida - viola (Disc 2: #6, 7, 8)
Robin Dupuy - cello (Disc 2: #2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12)
Zeze Wakamatsu - soundscape (Disc 2: #4)

Released in 2021 on Nagalu as NAGALU-003/004

Japanese names: Koichi Sato 佐藤浩一 (Sato Koichi) Motohiko Ichino 市野元彦 (Ichino Motohiko) Masaki Kai 甲斐正樹 (Kai Masaki) Shinya Fukumori 福盛進也 (Fukumori Shinya) Aya Ito 伊藤彩 (Ito Aya) Yuko Kajitani 梶谷裕子 (Kajitani Yuko) Atsuki Yoshida 吉田篤貴 (Yoshida Atsuki)