Kenichiro Murata Quintet
November 16, 2025
Body and Soul
Kenichiro Murata村田憲一郎 – drums
Keiji Matsushima 松島啓之 – trumpet
Kazuhiko Kondo 近藤和彦- alto sax
Keiichi Yoshida吉田桂一 - piano
Masaharu Iida飯田雅春 – bass
Kenichiro Murata has a thing for Charlie Parker, a good thing that he knows how to put into two complete sets of hard-driving music. Not only does he keep the drumming exciting at fast tempos, but he also gathers musicians who dig nimble rhythms that drive thoroughgoing solos. The quintet delivered a masterclass in straight-ahead jazz.
Because the solos were so good on the first song, with everyone taking their turn, and everyone else holding them up, I wondered how they would keep that high level until the end. But I needn’t have bothered. Whether digging into Parker, Lee Morgan, or Kenny Dorham numbers, the solos flowed richly and intensely through both sets.
With a front line of Matsushima and Kondo, it’s hard to go wrong, but the match between them and piano-bass-drums was special. Matsushima is a great trumpeter with a fluidity that never oversteps its bounds. On all his solos, he stayed with the basics, which in his hands was more than enough. Straight-on, well-crafted solos kept coming.
Kondo, too, never sought to impress, but stayed with vibrantly felt lines that felt understated on first listen, until their complexity sank in a moment later. Kondo was featured on “You Taught My Heart to Sing,” the perfect choice for his sax voice. The song was taken at a slow, almost delicate pace, but that gave Kondo a chance to use his entire tonal and emotional palette.
The quintet leapt into Charlie Parker’s “Ah Leu Cha” with special exuberance. Yoshida, on piano, created strong, intertwined lines over the entire keyboard. Murata, too, leapt in with intricate rhythms on a lengthy, searching solo. More Bird was in store. The quintet’s version of “Chasing the Bird” didn’t hold back. Songs like those two need no embellishment. All the solos combined quick tempos and deep feelings—the hallmark of the best bop.
“Half and Half” from Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison was a splendid choice to give everyone enough room to solo over Murata’s agile shifts of rhythm. Freddie Hubbard’s “Birdlike” gave Yoshida enough space to launch an extended, tasteful, fluid solo. It also revealed how fully Yoshida’s piano and Murata’s drums underpinned all the songs. Iida loosened up into his best and most energetic solo near the end, completing the full range of everyone in the group.
Murata knows just how to lead a quintet. He chose songs and arrangements that let the depths of each member’s playing shine through. In Tokyo, Bird’s legacy and post-bop influence don’t get any better than this.
Kenichiro Murata’s links
