Like Timo Lassy, Jafrosax (aka Kazuki Katsuta) takes his inspiration from the jazz greats — saxophonists like John Coltrane. But unlike his Finnish contemporary, he’s not looking to recreate any retro vibe on the album New Standard of the Future.

If you’re not familiar with ‘In The Morning’ from the 12” or the ‘Slice Of Paradise’ compilation, now’s the time. It’s an uplifting opener and just what you need to get you going first thing. A superb track and a great vocal performance by Vikter Duplaix.

Very hard to follow that but there is no disappointment with a couple of instrumentals. The title track is a Detroit bullet train reed race and the Underground Resistance cover of ‘Hi Tech Jazz’ is controlled brokenness. Jafrosax has a smooth style but that doesn’t stop him being powerful or leading from the front. Two very fine tracks indeed and another is the instrumental, ‘Free’, where broken beats meet fusion with a ‘free jazz’ type solo from Kaz.

You might recall Koop’s album Waltz For Koop of 2001 which featured a couple of tracks aided by the vocal talents of Yukimi Nagano. Jafrosax has done the same here on ‘Wait And See’ (sophisticated broken jazz) and ‘Drawn 2 U’ (upbeat latin-jazz funk).

‘Rollin’ slows the pace right down with Spanish-style acoustic guitar with vocals in Japanese, experimental? Like J-pop, learning to love J-rap can be a struggle for Western ears. So whilst street-cred is provided by co-production credits by DJ Mitsu The Beats, on ‘Shin Ku Kan’, the rap written and performed by Gagle takes a couple of plays. Does he really say, Sheep Shagger? Probably not, but it’s a grower; Grover Washington Jr. does jap-hop.

Talking of old skool, Sonya Rogers puts in a solid performance on ‘Room In Your Heart’ while the similar ‘Going To The Sky’ features Lisa on vocals, but gets a cool, almost dubby mix by Kentaro Takizawa.

The set is finished off by the Faze Action remix of ‘In The Morning’ and a remix of ‘Drawn 2 U’ by Studio Apartment. Both are tough calls to improve on the original versions but the bonus tracks match the quality of the rest of the album. Makes you wanna get ya congas out.

Kaz guested on Pantone stable-mate Yukihiro Fukutomi’s equally impressive nu-Jap jazz album, Equality and Yukihiro returns the favour by co-producing most of this album. Pantone has got a trio of greats on their roster along with Jazztronik. All this and a great cover! Gav Smith’s found another winner. Great album.

Jafrosax - New Standard Of The Future (Pantone) Cat. No. pancd003 CD Release date: 27 Feb 2006
Tracklisting:
1. In The Morning (6:34) Vocals - Vikter Duplaix
2. Wait And See (6:16) Vocals - Yukimi Nagano
3. New Standard Of The Future (7:38)
4. Hi Tech Jazz (5:58)
5. Free (5:58)
6. Room In Your Heart (5:47)
7. Going To The Sky (Kentaro Takizawa Mix) (7:31)
8. Drawn 2 U (5:51) Vocals - Yukimi Nagano
9. Rollin’ (5:44) Vocals - Nokko
10. Shin Ku Kan (4:42) Featuring - Gagle Producer - DJ Mitsu The Beats
11. Drawn 2 U (Studio Apartment Remix) (8:55) Remix - Yukimi Nagano
12. In The Morning (Faze Action Present Orto Remx) (6:03)

Links:
Pantone Music www.pantonemusic.com
Gagle
http://sound.jp/takizawa
Vikter Duplaix www.vikterduplaix.com
Faze Action www.fazeaction.com