Koki Nishimura Group 西村公貴グループ
Yokohama Jazz First
October 11, 2026
Koki Nishimura西村公貴 - vibraphone
Yoichi Hirai平井庸一 - guitar
Reo Matsui松井玲央 - piano
Yasunobu Tsugiyama杉山安伸 - bass
Shinichiro Yoshimoto嘉本信一郎 - drums
When pro musicians get together, the vibe comes out immediately. There’s no waiting around to get started. Koki Nishimura’s group hit their vibe from the get-go, a vibe that fit the club’s name—Jazz First—precisely. Vibraphone is always a pleasure to hear, but Nishimura goes beyond a great sound deeply ensconced—he aims to keep alive the vibraphone culture in Japan. Whether playing a Duke Ellington piece, digging into Roy Haynes’ rhythms, or channeling Bobby Hutcherson, Gary Burton’s presence loomed over the music, in the best way possible.
Pushing modern jazz on each tune, his fluid vibraphone playing was well supported by strong ensemble work from the other members. On tunes like Chick Corea’s “Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly,” the band hit its groove with a full-forward sound that opened up inside the chords to give everyone time to open up and have their say. With a more rhythmic tune like Duke Ellington’s “Fleurette Africaine” (“Little African Flower”), the band showed how steeped they are in jazz history, but also how they can keep that tradition current, vital, and exciting. They took the song at a fast clip, and obviously enjoyed sinking into the tune.
“Little B’s Poem,” by the great vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, another obvious influence on Nishimura, was delivered with nimble, Gary Burton-like precision. Nishimura’s style is open, yet focused, tight over the chords, but loose and cool in feeling. With an obvious affinity for piano, the slow and lovely “The Sound of Love,” written by Charles Mingus for Duke Ellington, was given special treatment. Hirai jumped in with interesting guitar effects and a fleet solo, followed by Matsui on piano. Both played elegantly, with quick turns and twists. Tsugiyama and Yoshimoto fueled them, playing with bravado when needed and subtlety when needed.
Tunes like “Wheatland” by Oscar Peterson captured the energetic, positive feeling of Peterson’s playing. For an encore, the group played “Falling Grace,” written by Steve Swallow but often played on the duet albums of Chick Corea and Gary Burton. Nishimura captured the sense of total control over the vibraphone played with all four mallets. When such a lovely, intricate, and poignant tune is chosen as the encore, instead of, say, a bluesy (well-known) standard, you know the energy for a more harmonically advanced, cool-toned evening was still there. Nishimura’s group strikes the right balance: historically grounded yet entirely fresh and individual.
