Much celebrated Dutch alto-saxophonist, Benjamin Herman, sounds like the right kind of music obsessive. Not the drill-down, detail driven, relentless refiner of his craft but a musician who restlessly seeks out new perspectives and inspirations. Over forty years on since he first started playing jazz sax and fifty plus albums down the line, now with his new set ‘The Tokyo Sessions’ he shows that he can more than keep up the creative flow.
It’s a collection which reflects Herman’s long-standing connection with Japanese muso-culture. He recalls his first visit was in 1989, in a hastily put together band to fill in for some dates when the Glen Miller Revival Orchestra pulled out. As he says “that tour launched my fascination with Japan” which was fuelled by his frequent tours of the country and the friendships he made along the way. Things didn’t work out around recording in Tokyo though until 2024 for a preliminary jam and again a year later. On this 2025 trip his trio partners, drummer Jimmi Jo Hueting and bassist Thomas Pol came along and ‘The Tokyo Sessions” album became a very real project.
Herman’s aim for the recording was to capture the energy of Japan’s genre-fluid music culture with input from a host of local collaborators. Along came the revered guitarist/ experimentalist Otomo Yoshihide, happening trumpet player Shinpei Ruike and the explosive Tomoaki Baba on tenor sax, to inject their particular J-Jazz flare into the studio workouts. The result fizzes with the dynamism and collective enthusiasm generated by Herman and this hyper-inventive crew.
In some ways the album also keys into Herman’s recent beat generating trajectory but it’s much more than just jazz funky. Opener Sugii is a No Wave Laswell blast filled with the rush of a mega-city night. An industrial pulse, pumping bass, thrusting twin horns, widescreen synths, shout outs and hip hop rips power this stomping homage to pioneering early 20th century jazz evangelist Kiochi Sugii. It’s obviously a tribute in spirit rather than replication, Herman, Hueting and Pol taking Sugii’s thirst for innovation as a totem for the whole album.
Solid, addictive basslines and full paced rhythms are often fundamental to the immediacy of ‘The Tokyo Sessions’ tunes. NRFS builds patiently from taiko-like beats to a ferocious sax lead skronk with guest Tomoaki Baba’s tenor striding out front. Referencing the Tokyo Jazz joint “No Room For Squares” which took its name from the Hank Mobley classic there’s nothing laid back about the intention here. Pit Inn is another tune which lulls you towards it. Nodding to Japanese new age and kosmische at the start, the track plunges somewhere darker on a squall of garage beats, siren sax warnings and Jimmi Jo Hueting’s drums in full tornado mode. Another song that doesn’t hold back is the air punching punk jazz of Wasshoi, a raucous rock out number rammed with molten synth drops, crowd chants and Otomo Yoshihide piercing guitar wrenches.
It’s the legendary avant noise explorer’s presence which seems crucial to the cutting edge which Herman and producer Hueting wanted for ‘The Tokyo Sessions’ . Yoshihide features explicitly on the delirious Gaa Gaa which crawls into existence through a squabble of fretboard scrapes, garbled mouthpiece squawls and roaring bowed bass. All is tense for the first minute then bam we’re into a flash of pure Melt Banana intensity. Yoshihide’s other direct input is fittingly on the album’s closer, the defiant noise poem of Jam Jam Radio. These inputs may seem brief, even quirky, but they underline everything Herman wanted to portray here about his album’s cultural celebration.
The contribution of traditional musicians Akihito Obama on bamboo flute and Ko Ishikawa on shō also add to the authenticity of Herman’s intentions. This goes beyond any tokenism with the sinuous, ethereal sounds of their instruments adding meaningful texture to the more fusion leaning tunes. On the intro to One For Itsuno, Ishikawa’s sho breathes out a long celestial sigh then wraps up this busy post-bop swinger in some soothing atmospherics. Maybe though it’s Kazegafuku that provides the album’s finest electro acoustic moments. Obama’s earthy flute blends with the shō and Herman’s whispering sax to bring a mystical glow to this tense EST-like epic.
Much of the album conjures up a similar widescreen vision. Tokyo Moon brings a heist movie thrill with some big band bombast and wild swing momentum. More restrained but no less impressive, the smooth Hosono electronica of The Room looks to the midnight city until Shinpei Ruike’s frantic trumpet blow out reveals the edgier side to neon-lit living.
Taking in all that ‘The Tokyo Sessions’ has to offer can feel like you are edging close to overload sometimes but Herman and crew’s free-spirited energy ensures you stay with them for the whole trip. Book your place soon, there should be no regrets.
Get your copy of ‘The Tokyo Sessions’ by Benjamin Herman from your local record store or direct from Dox Records HERE
