Jazz : Energetic, Cheerful Set From Watanabe at Japan America

As he approaches his 60th birthday, Sadao Watanabe--one of his country’s most successful jazz exports--performed at the Japan America Theatre on Friday with an assemblage of Japanese players born in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

But if there was a generation gap, it failed to show in the music, which was characteristically energetic, cheerful and technically precise. And, unlike a number of his previous appearances, Watanabe’s musicians seemed firmly in sync with both the mood swings and the stylistic basis of his improvisations.

Much of the program was drawn from his current album, “Sweet Deal,” with one or two particularly attractive items from “Elis,” an earlier recording of Brazilian-tinged music. Despite some recurrent pitch problems when he played his small sopranino saxophone, Watanabe sounded in fine form--especially on alto--with a series of choruses balancing funk-driven riffs against highly articulate, bop-styled runs.

Among his accompanists, guitarist Jun Kajiwara displayed a striking range of influences, playing power rock on a few numbers, and acoustic jazz on others. Keyboardist Soichi Noriki provided a colorful array of textures, while the team of bassist Akira Okazawa, drummer Yuichi Tokashiki and percussionist Masaki Nakajima laid down a rugged rhythm.