Is it Jazz? How many times can one ask that question. What exactly constitutes Jazz? Genji Sawai’s Sowaka stretches this idea limit. Myself, I think it’s exactly what Jazz should be: dangerous, provoking, and exploratory. A fusion of Japanese free-jazz with New York noise-punk shouldn’t work, then, yet again, who could ask for more? On paper, the personnel doesn’t lie: Material, Midori Takada, Shuichi “Ponta” Murakami, and Genji Sawai himself. Sowaka simply cooks like little else.
Somehow, in the mid ‘80s, Bill Laswell fell in love with the country of Japan and attempted to find a way to remain there for as long he could. First came session work, as bassist, to help fund his trips and stays there. Then, came actual exploration of the whole Japanese underground musical scene. Prolific to a fault, Bill remembers very little of his work with Genji here.
What you hear in Sowaka is unique, though. It’s a marriage of his left-field ideas born out of dub as applied to electro, hip-hop, and punk. Now here, paired with Genji, we’re treated to Laswell’s Material bringing that DJ-influenced technique (with turntables, DMX drum machine, Prophet 5, and Yamaha DX-7 in tow) and blending it with Genji’s Ornette Coleman-like sax skronk. Herbie Hancock’s Future Shock might have beaten them to the game barely, a year early, but there’s something as fulfilling in Genji and Bill’s proto-Acid Jazz.
“1969 (The Real)” jets you forward with something approximating No Wave mutant funk meeting some unplaceable Japanese sampled musique concrete. A cacophony of glorious grooving noise, with feet planted firmly in Japanese melodicism. “Za” ramps up their experimentation even more. A groove propelled by both Midori Takada and Shuichi “Ponta” Murakami (my mind still reels such a thing occurred!) percussive lines, cycles from obscure, African-lilting funk and Laswell’s cavernous, electro-sampledelica. When Genji comes around, its his powerful sax blasts that ratchet energy up to its fulfilling end.
Running for just 33 minutes long, Sowaka, thankfully, is an album that makes its exploration succinct and on point. Out of all the cuts, “Hikobae” by far makes the case for its most stellar bit. Simply indescribable, it’s a heavy, heavy groove that shifts from DJ Screw-like, proto-Auto-Tune, time-stretched hip-hop to floating, Ambient Jazz based on whatever whim Genji’s skronk is gravitating to, at any moment. Of note, is Bill Laswell trying to turn his bass lines into some kind of Pointillist bit of pressure on all the proceedings. Truly an awesome track, I struggle to find words to accurately describe it.
Just a reminder: a decade later, when Bill would have the audacity to knock Teo Macero’s work with Miles (then try to one up it via his own Panthalassa remix project), now, I hear this album and realize that maybe, quite maybe, he wasn’t joking about this. How loud are echoes of Miles’ own On the Corner on “Cha-Brown”? Never quite cementing itself as a breakbeat, some jazz-funk, or a “Close to the Edit” moody Art Pop bit, all the bits that are there, are wonderfully impressive together. And on that note, you know what, I think I’ll just end it here. Sowaka is such a collage and on tracks like the final one “Don” some of the best things are impossible to describe.
Sometimes, it’s better to simply shut up and listen…