Foto:Wataru Nishida
Interview to Shinpei Ruike
Written and translated from Japanese by Nico Conversano
Review to Unda
Creating music deeply rooted in one’s own spiritual essence is the way of life of trumpet player Shinpei Ruike. With the releasing of his latest album “Unda”, Ruike takes a step forward in his personal and original sound research which places him on the creative summits of Japanese jazz scene. Through this interview we tried to understand more about this musician’s life and creative process.
Jazz Convention: What’s you first memory about music?
Shinpei Ruike: One of the first memories I have about music is connected to my elementary school’s brass band. The first time I watched a brass band performing, I thought I absolutely wanted to play drums, but in the end I became a trumpet player. At home, my father listened to music, but as far back as I can remember, it wasn’t jazz. He preferred World music and ethnic music coming from Okinawa Islands and other exotic countries.
JC: How and when did you discover jazz?
SR: I think my interest for jazz began when I was a high school student. Once I stumbled into a fashion magazine cover displaying a Chet Baker’s photo. Probably it was his pose while holding the trumpet, but it turns out that image deeply impressed me! Soon after I went to a record shop to buy a cd. One of the first records I bought was one by Miles Davis. Also my father had a lot of LP’s and he made me listen to them. There were records by Miles Davis, Jimmy Smith and Herbie Hancock, but the greatest in number were those by Miles Davis.
JC: Your father was a printmaker and woodblock artist. Did you find any relations between this artisan activity and your choice of being a jazz musician?
SR: Even myself is one of my father’s own work! He mainly produced artworks for a matsuri (Translator’s note: Japanese word for folkloric festival) that has been holding since a very long time in our native town. When he was young, he worked in Tokyo, but after that he moved back to Aomori, the place where he was born and the same where I was born too! He was a person that created his artworks always paying attention to its originality. Being raised beside my father and looking at him while creating his artworks is something that clearly have had great influence on me. Turning the things that we most love into our job, with its load of joy and sorrow, is something I have always strongly aimed to. Even today that I am a musician, creating something that represent myself, like he did, is my way of life.
JC: Why did you choose trumpet? What fascinates you the most in this instrument?
SR: The choice of trumpet happened by chance. Truth is that when I entered my elementary school’s brass band, I wanted to play drums. The director of brass band suggested me to play the trumpet, so just before switching to drums I started playing trumpet. Since the beginning, surprisingly, I realized I was good at playing this instrument. That’s when I decided to keep playing it! Trumpet is a very difficult instrument, if you don’t play it everyday the playing conditions are compromised, at the same time, if you practice too much those same conditions are compromised as well. Even taking out the very sound from the trumpet requires a lot of time, that’s why I considered it as a very hard instrument to play. Yet, just because that sound is so hard to achieve, it becomes interesting! Through the body is possible to take out a wide range of sounds and even this is one of the most interesting features of trumpet. Still today I think it so.
JC: Can you cite us a few trumpet players among Japanese and international musicians that you refer to?
SR: Among Japanese players there are Keiji Matsushima and Issei Igarashi.
JC: Which are the jazz albums that influenced you the most?
SR: “Steamin'” by Miles Davis.
JC: After the experiences with some of the most representative Japanese modern jazz groups such as Dub Sextet led by Naruyoshi Kikuchi and Urb, you decided to create your own band called “Shinpei Ruike 4 piece” and recorded your first two album as a leader entitled “Distorted Grace” and “Sector B” in which you followed a more personal course. What led you to this choice? What are you looking for in your music as a leader?
SR: Until today I collaborated with many different bands and I still keep doing it nowadays. During these experiences I gradually established which were the things I really wanted to express. As time went by even tastes and tendencies change. The surface changes everytime, but the most important part stays unaltered. I think that this important side comes out only thanks to our original expressivity. I am always searching for new things, but I also would like it to be a necessary music. It’s not a matter of just creating something new, but also to assimilate something that generates a sublime result. “Distorted Grace”, the title of my debut album, stays still today as my personal motto: the beauty that takes with it its opposite. The people that live on that balance are attractive in a twisted way.
JC: In “4 A.M.” has been used a particular technology called DSD to record, mix and master the album to improve the quality of sound. Can you tell us abou it?
SR: The choice of using this recording technology was a label’s decision. I think that the final result successfully managed to capture all the colours of the band. Recording with the presence of the audience is obviously something completely different from a studio recording because the energy coming from the people ends up to reflect itself in the performance. The DSD recording, compared to a normal CD, has a quality of sound far more three-dimensional.
JC: Compared to your previous albums as a leader, in your two latest albums you added to your usual quartet approach the sound of guitarist Takuya “Tak” Tanaka. What were you looking for in Tanaka’s sound?
SR: I think that guitar is an instrument that stands in a position that keeps together both the electric and the acoustic approach. The sound of our band aims to something that marries these two approaches, that’s why the presence of a guitar was crucial. After that, I thought that the expressive force of guitarist Takuya Tanaka was necessary for this band. His ability to play different genres, the way he makes its instrument “sing” and his sensibility in creating a climax are wonderful.
JC: In the liner notes of “4 A.M.” you define the jazz clubs as “hako“, the Japanese word for “box”. Can you explain us why you chose this term to refer to live houses?
SR: In my opinion, the use of “box” term to specify a place in which people are playing is very fitting. The box is a mere container and its value, or state, changes according to the its contents. Of course, it can also happen that, according to the kind of box we use, the way we perceive the contents is different. Catching the energy present in that “box”, absorbing it and eventually releasing it, turning that space into something special, is one of our goal and we are working in order to introduce it in our music. It’s an expression that we musicians have been using from a long time and it ended up it turned out into the imagine we associate to jazz clubs. It’s really enjoyable for us to create with our hands a “product” that dyes in colours an inorganic object as a box. That’s why it’s an expression that I like so much.
JC: Which are the differences you feel in approach between live performance and studio recording?
SR: There’s a big difference between the two things. The energy coming from the presence of an audience is huge. During a studio recording you can work in a more meticulous and accurate way and you have the possibility to have everything planned. In the case of live recordings, instead, you give more importance to the moment. In both cases, the most important thing is that you enjoy the music you’re playing. The process of seeing the atmosphere and the mood of a venue changing is extremely interesting, but I also like to work in studio and bring my music to completion step by step. I like both approaches.
JC: After some live performance in duo with pianist George Nakajima, you decided to record an album together entitled “N. 40°” and he’s also featured in your latest album “Unda”. How and when you did you meet Nakajima? Which are Nakajima’s musical skills that pushed you to recruit him in your latest recordings?
SR: Playing with Nakajima is very enjoyable. His free approach based on standards tunes changes in every performances. In a duo performance, generally the pianist tends to stand out, but in our case, even in situations like these, each other’s influence intensely comes out. In every situation the music we create is always something coming from both of us. The mood perceived in a duo performance is very different from that you may feel in my latest album “Unda” and Nakajima has a bigger freedom compared to when he plays electric piano. His respectful approach to standards is very stimulating and that makes of him an essential presence for the band.
JC: Among the tunes of “N. 40°” there are also short free improvised sections for trumpet solo or piano solo that tie together all the album. How came the idea of these little music pieces?
SR: The reason I played some short improvisations between the tunes is that I wanted to express myself with something that doesn’t create a distance among the tunes. I think we should always looking for a dialogue with our musical partner, using our own language. This purpose should never be ignored, either we are playing written compositions or improvised music. If I managed to convey this idea, I would be happy.
JC: Let’s talk about your collaborations. One of your most interesting experience was with Landscape Jazz Orchestra. What can you tell us about this project?
SR: The project “Landscape Jazz Orchestra” is no longer in activity. The idea was giving the tangible shape of a live painting to a performance of improvised music. It was up to the painter to give a solid form to something with no substance as music is. As time went by we performed as the painting was getting completed.
JC: Among the most unusual experience there is also a collaboration in anime (translator’s note: Japanese term for “animation”) industry for “Sakamichi no Apollon”, an animated series from 2007 with a jazz soundtrack. What can you tell us about it?
SR: The animation industry in Japan is very prosperous and dynamic. I think that, among the animated productions, “Sakamichi no Apollon” is one of a kind. Concerning the sequences of this series in which the characters are playing jazz, I played all the musical parts associated with the trumpeter character. “Sakamichi” is an animated work that has never been produced before and it has the privilege to have bring to the fore the true jazz in the animation world. Even the the pose and the posture of the trumpeter character is very similar to mine.
JC: What do you think when you’re improvising? Are your solos constructed following an architectural structure or you just let yourself go to your instinct?
SR: I think I’m using both approaches. According to what extent instincts and music rules influence my music, is definitely the first one that prevails. This is the kind of musician I want to be.
JC: What’s your opinion about the nowadays situation for jazz in Japan? What kind of opportunities are there for Japanese jazzmen to perform and experiment new directions in music?
SR: I have the impression that the number of young people who are listening to jazz is decreasing, but, at the same time, new and interesting young jazz musicians are coming up. Of course, jazz will not disappear, but if the nowadays situation would get better, I would be pleased with it. There are many chances to play experimental music and Tokyo is a city where a lot of crazy and wonderful musicians live.
JC: About you, which are the Japanese jazz scene peculiarities that distinguish itself from the other international jazz scenes?
SR: I think that the Japanese jazz musicians that were active in the 60’s had a sound in which a “Japanese identity” was present. Those of them who are still in activity today, possess originality because they created their own style by even absorbing elements from traditional jazz. I am striving too very hard to create a sound in which can be recognizable my “being Japanese”.
Links:
ruike.daa.jp – Shinpei Ruike website
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ounHSQvu9Yc – Excerpt from “Sakamichi no Apollon”