I had the chance to catch a performance by the Otomo Yoshihide New Jazz Orchestra (ONJO) in Kyoto (on 10/3 at Kyoto Art Center). According to Otomo’s entry in his "Jamjam diary", it was "probably the ONJO’s last concert for a while", so I was really lucky to see them. It was the first (and apparently also the last) time they did a "elliptical concert, or in other words, an acoustic set without PA, in Kyoto, and the venue — a former elementary school’s lecture hall — was filled to the brim with about 200 spectators, plus all the instruments lined up on the floor.
The ONJO is an extremely space-consuming band, especially in cases like this "elliptical concert". The lineup is fluctuating, and members on that particular day included Otomo himself on guitars, as well as Kahimi Karie (voc), Axel Doerner (tp), Okura Masahiko (sax, cl, tubes), Aoki Taisei (tb, fl), Ishikawa Ko (sho), Sachiko M. (sine waves), Unami Taku (objects), Takara Kumiko (vib), Mizutani Hiroaki (b) and Yoshigaki Yasuhiro (ds), plus trumpet player Ezaki Masafumi (from popo), and visual/sound artist Umeda Tetsuya as special guests. Umeda and several other band members had their collections of tools - ranging from proper musical instruments to rather odd devices - lined up on the floor like at a roadside stand on a flea market. Watching them play was a strange experience comparable to seeing a live performance and an installation at the same time.
Umeda, who was also participating in the concurrently held group exhibition at the same venue, looked like a little tinkerer or alchemist among his scattered assortment of wires, light bulbs, electrical fans, bottles, threads, balloons and other things. Pushed, pulled, spun, or switched on and off, these objects that otherwise looked like little more than worthless debris emitted some mysterious sounds. Umeda’s objects seemed not exactly in tune with the other musicians, yet somehow they nicely harmonized with the orchestra’s performance (at least that’s how it sounded to me). Nonetheless, to lesser-trained ears it remained unclear whether the noises produced by the other musicians were faithful reproductions of elaborately arranged scores, or rather self-indulgent improvisations of voluntarily assigned parts. After all, abandoning oneself to that loose flow of sounds is just what makes an ONJO concert such a joyful musical experience.
"Object" player Unami, known for his challenging and experimental performances, was using cardboard and a metallic tape measure. He placed a metal plate on the floor, covered it with a cardboard box, and rolled out a metallic tape measure attached to one end of the box. He vibrated the metal plate with small, computer-controlled speakers, picked up the sounds of the cardboard and tape measure with a microphone, and amplified those. He also picked up the sounds of metallic clips and pieces of plastic shoveled into the cardboard box, and the snapping sound of the folding tape measure. He finally crushed the cardboard box, and integrated that sound as well. Again, all this happened somewhere in the grey area between in and out of tune with the other musicians.
The audience was placed in and outside the elliptical arrangement of the instruments and players, and as it was not forbidden to move, walking around (while taking care not to disturb others or the performers) was quite interesting as well. An encore came in the form of Burt Bacharach’s "Close to You", where Yoshigaki replaced his drum sticks with a giant balloon that Umeda hadn't used in his performance. Umeda in turns tried to suck a boiled quail’s egg into a bottle by manipulating the pressure inside the bottle with a burning match, and to create a thundering sound effect with rice in a steaming basket, and even though both attempts failed, the subtle sounds of metal and vibration exquisitely contributed to the performance. There was much brilliance in these failed attempts, and visually Umeda’s performance was at least as outstanding as Unami’s in terms of weirdness.
As I confirmed later with Otomo, this performance/exhibition style is probably unique and unprecedented even on the international stage. I further asked him about his thoughts on whether music comes into existence as long as the rhythm section works, or in other words, as long as there is musically correct rhythm, and he answered something along the following lines. "It doesn't have to be the rhythm, but it can also be the melody or harmony that is correct. Furthermore, in the ideal case, music comes into existence even without anyone trying to be 'correct'. With the ONJO we're presently just about to get to that point." It’s a shame that they call it quits now, but maybe being almost there is exactly the reason for stopping.
About Ezaki’s involvement, Otomo explained that he "bumped into him just that afternoon and invited him to join." That spontaneity - or call it slickness, broad-mindedness, or randomness - mirrors an elemental characteristic of the ONJO and ONJO-esque music. Akasegawa Genpei once proposed an elliptical tearoom with two center points, and the circle with only one center surely lacks something due to the perfection of its shape. The ONJO forms musical scenarios utilizing the warped shape of the ellipsis, and through that oddness they challenge and ultimately cross the boundaries of music.
Now underway is the "Rest-ful Musical Devices" installation by Otomo Yoshihide + Ito Atsuhiro + Umeda Tetsuya + Sachiko M + Horio Kanta + Mohri Yuko + Yamakawa Fuyuki (through 11/3 at the former Rensei Junior High School).
Ozaki Tetsuya / Editor in chief / REALTOKYO