The Phenomenon that is Akira Jimbo

I had never really fully gotten into www.youtube.com but I now know it is a maniac development in the history of the Internet.

You can virtually find any kind of video. The clips are only 10 minutes long in most cases but I must stress that I found a wealth of clips related to music. Specifically just about anything. So I checked out tons of musicians from Mike Stern to Herbie Hancock to some rare b&w clips of Miles, with Coltrane taking an impossible solo on So What.

I had only seen Akira Jimbo on two other occasions. One is some random clip someone sent me which had bad sound and incredibly bad lighting. The other place was www.drummerworld.com. Bernhard Castiglioni is really a great Drum Archivist. There’s tons of information on his site about most drummers but Akira is more or less a mystery really. How did this guy develop his style and how did he bend so many cultural contexts thus being able to play Japanese percussion, Afro Cuban Rhythms, Traditional and advanced Latin Rhythms, and Jazz/Rock? Incredible but true.

On www.youtube.com, the video titled Guru Guru Labyrinth featuring Akira Jimbo and the slaptastic Tetsuo Sakurai just blew me away with their totally imaginative and unbelievably willful revolving cultural-centric playing. I mean that Akira’s ambidexterity could cover multiple aspects from traditional Japanese drumming to flat out American funk albeit with a Japanese or an Afro Cuban twist; all this at any time he chose. Yamaha who have worked with Akira say “Akira is quite capable of playing both acoustic kit and electronic kit simultaneously in real time to create amazing, complete pieces of music.”

Akira started playing drums at the age of 18 at Keio University in Japan. Here, he became a member of the school’s Light Music Society Big Band. His association with jazz fusion band Casiopea starting from 1980 is well documented.

Akira left Casiopea in 1989 and formed his band Jimsaku. Over the years, Akira honed his chops while working with diverse artists such as Keiko Matsui and Shambara.

Unbelievably so, Akira does not have a website; and this prompts me to dig deeper and learn more about the sensation he is. There might be a lot more Japanese information though but this will be too difficult to use as reference.

For the most part, the drummers we’ve come to love and appreciate are the old masters who are still creatively voyaging well into the 2000s, breaking barriers, but still maintaining that discipline and the focus. Some of the drummers who work this concept of moving forward imaginatively while still trying to find the essence are Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Weckl, Bill Stewart, Carter Beauford, Terry Bozzio, and Trilok Gurtu.

This cannot obviously be the be all and end all of good drumming. These guys are incredible no doubt; they have the creamy gigs and they also play in contemporary pop settings while nailing that psychotic jazz fest at any given time.

Akira is also doing this. While he may not have the best gigs in town, he is forging ahead with his technique; further baffling with its polyrhythmic and melodic drumming focus.

Akira is a master at triggering drum sounds along with musical accompaniment that he can evoke in specific sections. Part of the experience of watching him is his uncanny ability to look easy on the kit while performing his ambidextrous soul out.

At this point, I suggest you watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffxiAiLJMsw

Akira’s long standing association with Tetsuo Sakurai (whose work you can sample with Greg Howe and Dennis Chambers on Gentle Hearts) results in a musical mind bender. While you may not care for the ‘technique’ heavy sections, you should be able to appreciate the compositional aspect of using all the techniques musically.

It would seem Akira can play whatever Tetsuo can play but that is still a musical choice made over many a lick. It does not diminish his groove meter. A friend of mine was able to equally appreciate Akira with bassist Brian Bromberg on the track So What from the album Brombo2. He ultimately remarked that Akira must be a bassplayer’s wet dream.

Technically, he is able to seamlessly move from embracing traditional concepts in drumming to advanced, and sometimes electronically, grounded concepts.

Check this out to know what I mean:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iT_6EIl3PpU&search=akira%20jimbo

Watching Akira Jimbo makes you really want to dig into his fundamental concepts; this is shared on drummerworld in an excerpt where Akira says "My best advice to drummers, beginners or veterans, is to always remember the basics. When you practice, pay attention to your timing, especially the quarter-note feel. From that, everything else will follow."

Although I’m not a drummer, it is the other side of what makes my playing work as a bassplayer. I check out drummers as intensely as I would check out anyone who’s moving me, communicating with me.

I can confidently feel the phenomenon that is Akira Jimbo. His playing evokes stylists such as Steve Gadd whom Akira claims as an influence. You can watch Akira explaining a Steve Gadd lick here: http://drummerworld.com/Videos/AkiraJimbogadd.html but he is equally at home culturally bending minds and notes.

The fact of the matter is; Akira just cannot be ignored because of his command of melodic improvisation, while willfully hinging and departing via cultural and sub cultural musics as he pleases. His Afro Cuban phrasing is authentic and so is his funk. That's an amazing thing to find in a musician who started playing at the age of 17/18; in my opinion, he has experienced many things in his life that has found a way to come out in his drumming and his choice of music; the choices he makes are ultimately what matters and I totally respect this man for it. He definitely plays the right musical strokes.

Here’s a selected discography of Akira’s work:

Drum videos

Metamorphosis (1992)
Pulse (1995)
Independence Drummer (2000)
Evolution (2000)

Solo albums

Cotton (1986)
Palette (1989)
Jimbo (1990)
Slow Boat (1991)
Lime Pie (1993)
Rooms By The Sea (1995)
Flower (1997)
Brombo! (2003) (with Brian Bromberg)
Brombo 2!! (2004) (with Brian Bromberg)