Jazz Reviews : Osamu’s Work Covers Musical Kaleidoscope

Japanese composer/musician Osamu seems determined to create a product that is all things to all people. His showcase performance at the Roxy on Monday night was a virtual odyssey through everything from koto and shakuhachi mysticism to down-home, guitar-twanging Mississippi blues.

But, like the early Japanese cars that sometimes substituted gimcrackery for substance, Osamu’s performance had a feeling that a great deal of talent had been squandered on too many flashy external ornaments.

His two-part set (which droned on far too long and was far too lacking in dramatic movement and contrast to serve as an effective showcase) was dominated by pieces with determinedly New-Age titles like “Breath of the Night,” “Elemental Spirits,” “Thru Cosmic Doors,” “Purple Hills Crystal,” etc.

Many of the works were arranged in a similar pattern: an impressionistic opening, usually consisting of a quiet dialogue between Osamu’s koto and Masakazu Yoshizawa’s shakuhachi, was immediately followed by a simple but clearly limned melody underpinned with solid rock rhythms.

Occasionally, unusual meters surfaced to provide welcome contrast. A 5/4 ostinato in an unidentified work near the end of the program had an infectiously appealing rhythmic quality. The easygoing 3/4 of “Breath of the Night” rescued a piece that might otherwise have smacked of calculated movie music.

Osamu’s eight musicians, presumably assembled for the showcase, had no difficulty with the sometimes problematic demands of his music. Percussionists Hiromitsu Katada and Geoffrey Hales, in particular, provided robust and energetic drumming on a kaleidoscopic array of instruments. And Masakazu Yoshizawa, doubling on shakuhachi and the new Yamaha electronic wind instrument, played with passionate lyricism.

But Osamu needs to apply the fundamental Japanese philosophy of less is more to his music. His potential is too bright to be dissipated in an effort to shine in all directions.