Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band blast off at Cafe OTO

Last week the Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band rolled into London for a two-day residency at Cafe OTO. Thanks to a crowdfunding campaign organised by booking agent Malwina Witkowska, the 17-piece band from Japan has embarked on its first European tour including three performances and a workshop in London. Barring a few exceptions and the odd tribute band, it’s a rare and special occasion to experience an internationally touring big band in 2024. The residency was seemingly sold-out and Monday evening had a small troop of fans and passersby crowded outside to listen via OTO’s big windows, who were well-rewarded by the bombastic volume of Yoshihide’s ensemble

The big band released the three-track album Stone Stone Stone in 2022, part-inspired by the political situation in Japan during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic. While Yoshihide is a highly-prolific composer in the film and TV industry, Stone Stone Stone is the first Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band release in six years, a combo of jazz, rock, and noise. In this sense, Yoshihide is one of very few who manage to straddle both the experimental and mainstream worlds, equally respected for his earlier work with the 1990s noise rock band Ground Zero as well as for his more commercial ventures.

Noise was certainly the main aesthetic of the two sets. Alongside leading the group from the front, Yoshihide himself played spiky electric guitar, and after having announced his love of Zeppelin and Hendrix, launched into an angular, off-kilter jam during the second half. Sachiko M, sitting serenely in the middle of the group, manipulated an ear-splitting series of sine waves which jarred against the warm tones of the horn arrangements. There were also moments of sweetness; most of the pieces were characterised by singalongable melodic riffs, which grew in optimism and might before morphing into a more free and chaotic creature. Yoshihide’s music for screen influence was clearly present throughout - the inclusion of Okuchi Shunsuke on accordion lent a Jacques Brel-like drama to the proceedings, while the playfulness of Kimura Jinya’s tuba and Kawai Shinobu’s electric bass lines moved the sounds into anime OST territory.

At many points across the two sets, a member of the band would stop playing and give a hand-signal to another member, or group of members. Cues ranged from “stop playing” to “make a short sound”, all in military-style code, so that suddenly, the saxophones would lapse into a collective, improvised freak-out while the percussion froze in motion. It’s this participatory dynamic between players, spontaneous and playful, which had listeners on the edge of their seats with a sense that anything could happen at any moment. It’s a hallmark of Yoshihide’s style - music that is moment-specific and non-hierarchical