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Yuko Togami: Dawn

By Dan McClenaghan
May 27, 2018
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Drummer

Yuko Togami

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Yuko Togami's Dawn arrives as a beautiful surprise. It is the debut of the Japanese-born and now New York-based artist. Debut sets don't carry great expectations—one hopes for competence and a hint of a flair for the art form, the occasional creative spark shooting up from an otherwise acceptable but perhaps mediocre effort. For a newcomer to the scene, this would be a success. Yet Dawn rises up over the horizon with a bright glow that takes things well beyond the scope of the run-of-the-mill debut.

Togami's Dawn is a piano trio outing—one of the more difficult arenas to render distinctively—with keyboardist

Takaaki Otomo

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Takaaki Otomo's Fender Rhodes sitting in on one tune, and pianist

Ben Paterson

piano
b.1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Ben Paterson switching in on organ on another. The line-up shifts. Otomo and Paterson share the piano duties;

Jakob Dreyer

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Jakob Dreyer and

Nori Naraoka

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Nori Naraoka shuffle in and out on bass. And yet a start-to-finish cohesion and a focus of vision pervades.

The Togami-penned "Noctiluca" opens the set. A pensive and inward tune that would fit well into a

Bill Evans

piano
1929 - 1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans set, featuring Otomo's delicate keyboard touch and Jacob Dryer's big, warm bass sound—and an almost subliminal-but-elevating percussion contribution (in the beginning; the energy builds) from the leader. It's a melody that has a classic feeling to it, that veers into a quirky wandering segment that shifts back into introspective loveliness.

"Got To Get There," another Togami tune, features Otomo's Fender Rhodes in a sort of light-stepping funk, and "Why Not?" prances with an appealing insouciance,

Ben Paterson

piano
b.1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Ben Paterson's piano dancing inside a rock solid rhythm.

"Firstbornes," a group improvisation, rambles into an amiable gallop before fading away.

George Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy," the first of three covers, has never sounded more beautiful. Delivered with supreme patience, it is a spare examination of the classic melody that can stand with most any version of the song you can find. Takaaki Otomo is as emotive as a pianist can be here.

"Stolen Moments,"

Oliver Nelson

saxophone
1932 - 1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Oliver Nelson's opening cut on his classic album Blues and the Abstract Truth (Impulse! Records, 1961), doesn't seem like a vehicle for an organ trio sound. Ben Paterson makes it so with a muscular B3 breeze punctuated by Togami's sharp percussion and a deeply swinging groove.

The solemn "Autumn Path"—on which Togami takes the piano chair—closes the disc on a thoughtful, reverent note, for a fine conclusion to surprisingly fine debut.

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Track Listing

Noctiluca; Got to Be There; Why Not; Firstborns; I Loves You, Porgy; Stolen Moments; Chan's Song (Never Said); Autumn Path.

Personnel

Yuko Togami

drums

Takaaki Otomo

piano

Ben Paterson

piano

Jakob Dreyer

bass

Nori Naraoka

bass, acoustic

Album information

Title: Dawn | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Self Produced

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Welf Dorr, Luke Glavanovits, Dmitry Ishenko, Yuko Togami

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