Saxophonist and composer Nami Kano has just released a long-awaited album mawsim with her group of the same name today in Japan. Nami Kano’s name may be familiar as part of Jabuticaba from last week’s article, another compelling side of her creative musical personality.
This five-song, 39-minute album has resulted from the accumulated experience as Nami Kano’s quartet, playing creative jazz and original music together for years around Japan. As a unit, they’ve performed their own great compositions and arrangements of music from innovative musicians like Keith Jarrett, Jaco Pastorius, and Carla Bley. Kano recently adopted the mawsim moniker for her group and album name, as their vision locked into a comfortable and multi-layered repertoire.
As the recording starts, regular jazz listeners who are used to the quartet’s live sound may be surprised. The first song kicks off with some unexpected layers such as electronic drum beats establishing the framework for the sometimes-acoustic, sometimes-electric band (at live shows, Fender Rhodes, electric keyboards, and electric bass are often used along with acoustic piano and wood double-bass). Also surprising, Kano’s own pure voice joins her saxophone sound on the irresistibly playful melodic motif repeated through the first track’s melody line.
Later parts of the album extend the sound palette even more with simple, gorgeous orchestration of a violin and cello string section, and ambient sounds and programming add a sense of mystic soul to the groovy and soulful music.
Within just five songs (all composed by Nami Kano, roughly seven to nine minutes each), the music successfully includes a different dimension of the composer’s personality, through dance-club jazz fusion funk, natural and organic jazz, experimental trance, mellow soul, and straightforward classical beauty.
A subjective trip through the entire album leads to many highlight moments…
#1 “Crepuscular Rays” starts surprisingly right off the bat: Hearing drum and synth programming on a jazz album is a shocking start for sure, but when the jazz sound of a Fender Rhodes kicks in and Kano’s keen sax sounds through, Herbie Hancock-era jazz funk fusion takes hold, possibly with some modern-retro Jamiroquai influences mixed in.
It’s soul music and dance club disco steeped with the group’s deep jazz influences. The playful melody is joined not only by the leader’s addictive saxophone but also her own harmonious voice, as the four-note melodic cell shifts and settles through different accents and beats in a kind of addictive guessing game for listeners.
#2 “Le Bourgeon” Although modern grooves and electricity inhabit the opener, the second track is full of acoustic bass, acoustic piano, brushed drums, and soul-penetrating soprano sax. The mesmerizing sax flutters and willows over the gentle waves in a slow, romantic jazz waltz. Woody percussion, ambient echoes, and lush organic violin and cello heighten the intimacy of the lovely music.
#3 “Doubt” Wispy chords glide over a bass pedal point as the tenor sax invokes a Blade Runner future, or a Star Trek visit to an unknown planet. As the electric keyboard emerges, Kano’s flute questions over the amorphous and rhythmless landscape. Another surprise and highlight is Kano’s instantly loveable duduk (Armenian traditional instrument), which joins in and adds a magical, ancient feeling to the music. Experimental ambient, trance, and fusion inhabit this science-fiction setting.
Suddenly, the modern world emerges with electric rhythms halfway in, something like a Bjork tapestry by Kano’s hand. Flutes harmonize then fall out to reveal electric bass, electric drums, and jazz sax solo played over thin air, fusing and merging and Kano’s improvisation paints the galaxy. Unfamiliar noises surface and disappear, and the background rhythms keep thickening as the saxophone solo eventually distorts as if traveling through a warp in space and the entire mix seems to rotate, filter, and deconstruct, until finally Kano’s wind instruments, chorus, deep bass tones, and ambient sounds create a memorable journey’s end.
#4 “Far Away Far in the Sky” sets up a charming bluesy groove with church organ and piano at an easy-going soft-rock pace. The music creates scenes of late-night slow-dance romance, moonlight and midnight, as the last drinks are finished, conversations wind up, and bittersweet goodbye hugs and squeezes are invited and repeated. It’s a time of deep soul with shades of disco pop and fond nostalgia, laid out in two fascinating parts when the swaying rhythm of waltz-time changes to a 4/4 soul rock as the Rhodes lets loose and Kano’s saxophone lovingly leads us out.
#5 “Whisper of the Moon” is a relaxing end to the adventure as the strings, sax, and piano perform soundtrack-style music in a dramatic reading. Graceful, slow, and honest with a hint of mystery and romance conveyed through Kano’s exquisite sax tone, expert playing, and impressive compositional talent.
As for the name mawsim (season), Kano explained that in certain places the group name and album title are stylized in lowercase for fun aesthetic reasons: In cursive, the writing of 𝓂𝒶𝓌𝓈𝒾𝓂 resembles and gives the feeling of waves, and in Japanese, “wave” is nami 波, which has the same sound as Kano’s first name Nami 奈実.
mawsim by Nami Kano
Nami Kano - alto/soprano saxophone, flute, duduk, chorus
Tomokazu Sugimoto - basses, arrangement, programming, co-producer
Mamoru Ishida - piano, Rhodes, keyboard
Sota Kira - drums, percussion
maiko - violin (tracks 2, 5)
Orie Hirayama - cello (tracks 2, 5)
Shoko Mochiyama - strings arrangement (tracks 2, 5)
Released in 2024 on Wave Records as WR-001.
Japanese names: Nami Kano 加納奈実 (Kano Nami) Tomokazu Sugimoto 杉本智和 (Sugimoto Tomokazu) Mamoru Ishida 石田衛 (Ishida Mamoru) Sota Kira 吉良創太 (Kira Sota) maiko マイコ (maiko) Orie Hirayama 平山織絵 (Hirayama Orie) Shoko Mochiyama 持山翔子 (Mochiyama Shoko)
Related Albums
Jabuticaba: Jabuticaba (2021)
Audio and Video
Nami Kano Quartet performing “Le Bourgeon” live in 2017, track #2 on this album
Nami Kano performing “Doubt” on duduk and other wind instruments, track #3 on this album
Nami Kano with strings performing “Whisper of the Moon”, track #5 on this album
Nami Kano and group performing “Three Views of a Secret” live in 2020
Excerpt from “Le Bourgeon”, track #2 on this album: