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Cappuccino's Jazz Live Report: Vol. 10 Saturday, 19 Nov 2005 I went to this long-awaited live concert. The special project took place to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Mister Kelly's in Nishi-Umeda and starred Mister Kelly's friends. Headlining the event was Lewis Nash, the jazz drummer of the moment. I went on the final night, and the performers included Lewis Nash (ds), Junko Ochi (vo.), Haruya Kibata (p) and Tetsuro Aratama (b). When I arrived the audience was already eating and drinking while waiting for the concert to start. There were couples in kimonos, women, company co-workers and many other people. I wonder who they came to see. At a little after 7 o'clock the performers came on stage. Lewis Nash was well built and seemed full of grace.

The opening song was "You've Got A Friend". In tune with Ms. Ochi's singing, Lewis hit the edge of drum softly. That was followed by "It Might As Well Be Spring", in which he produced an earthy sound by combining brushes, mallets, and using his bare hands on the snare drum. "Bye Bye Black Bird" sounded comfortable with his sweet smile and swinging brushwork. He has received recognition for his supporting performances and also shows his original ideas when performing solo. In particular, "Day By Day" made my heart leap with his sharp and powerful drums; it was enough to leave a powerful impression in my mind. I was captivated by his powerful thighs as they moved in rhythm to the music. You may have been forgiven for feeling "Where am I looking?", as I found myself attracted to the energy he produced as he played the drums and by the rhythm his body was generating. That night they played four songs in a row, as they wanted to play as many songs together as possible. Finally came Ochi-style MC. Ms. Ochi was so comfortable singing along to Nash's accompaniment, and matched his drumming note for note. Lewis's MC surprised me a lot since he spoke very good Japanese. He used "ano" when most foreign people say "hmm". He also said his speaking was "Kansai dialect style". According to the introduction for Mr. Aratama, they had played together three times so far during that special week. He praised him highly as an amazing bassist. Mr. Aratama seemed very shy. He single-mindedly and carefully played bass bending slightly forward throughout the show. Mr. Kibata's piano playing expressed dynamism and delicacy depending on the song being performed. He was playing whilst checking on a number of occasions how the other members were doing, which stood out in my memory. In the middle of "Come Together", a diva could never be better, and Mr. Kibata's piano and Lewis's drums were white-hot. It was so groovy that they were inspiring each other. For the tune arranged in a black style, Lewis made sounds by sliding the brush with his palm. I was so impressed by his performance – it was something that I have never seen before. Lewis casually added a little spice to the show with his finishing technique making the other band members look good. His sense of rhythm and the intelligence with which he combined an appropriate blend of large and small techniques was outstanding. I, Cappuccino, found myself completely captivated.

Lewis performed the scat "Side By Side" for the last song. He was superb. I felt like I gained a lot by watching the performance. All the members worked well with each other even though they were playing together for the first time, and I felt very comfortable listening to their amazingly high level of skill. I take my hat off to Lewis Nash, who has steadily acquired the professional skills required and established himself as an almighty drummer. Reported by Cappuccino, who was on a train going home still tapping to the rhythm of the music and feeling a flood of happiness at witnessing such a great concert.
A CD of Lewis Nash, world-famous drummer, will be presented to our readers with his signature on it. If you missed the chance to listen to his live performance tonight, please apply for the CD. For more information, please access: http://www.hifido.co.jp/merumaga/koncappu/051209/index.html Profile of Lewis Nash Lewis was born on December 30, 1958 in Phoenix, Arizona. By the age of 20, he had already played with jazz legends like Red Garland, Sonny Stitt and Art Pepper. He moved to New York at the age of 21 and joined Betty Carter and her trio. In the mid-1980's, he joined Ron Carter's group and began to play as a session drummer for support of such artists as Tommy Flanagan, Sir Roland Hanna and Branford Marsalis. So far, Lewis has played drums on over 300 recordings. Website of Mr. Kelly's: http://www.misterkellys.co.jp Website of Lewis Nash: http://lewisnash.com/

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