TAKESHI INOMATA Vinyl & CDs

Review: Takeshi Inomata's Drum Method reissue is jazz-rock at its fiercest, transforming a drum instructional into a relentless groove machine. Inomata's legendary, boundary-pushing stick work shines, leading Sound Limited through a heady mix of originals and covers like 'Runaway Child' and 'Smack Water Jack.' The album, filled with dizzying solos and Norio Maeda's standout arrangements, is a masterclass in rhythm and energy, showing Inomata's unstoppable drive to reshape the genre. This reissue is pure, high-octane funk and groove at its finest.

Review: Japanese jazz drummer Takeshi Inomata is a little-spoken-about figure in the jazz-rock scene; The Japan Jazz All Stars alumn, We 3 trio leader and Rhythm Clinic Center founder has made well over 300 recordings in his career - this being the third in a year-long trilogy enthusiastically and successively released under the Sound Limited name alongside Kimio Mizutani and Shigenori Kamiya - amongst others - largely influenced by European musicians like Donovan and The Beatles. A notable and funny inclusion is 'London Bridge is Falling Down', a quite literal jazz groove cover interpolating the famous nursery rhyme. Opening track 'Something' is a cracking piece of relaxing jazz, nothing eye-popping, just some glossy, well-played, easy listening. 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' is a fast-paced funk cut with striking psychedelic guitars over a frantic flute line - the project showed Inomata's vision for a more approachable and instantly catchy jazz rock that still retained a lot of character and left, evidently, lots of room for experimentation.