EVERYDAY (2025)
Kobe-born, Brooklyn-based trumpeter Takuya Kuroda’s eight studio album, Everyday is a stunning demonstration of his dedication and skill. Since the release of his soulful seventh album , 2022’s Midnight Crisp –– a record praised by PopMatters as a “future classic” –– Kuroda has not missed a beat. In his desire to achieve the “perfect blend of production and organic performance” the 45-year-old musician has continued to throw himself into his practice daily, nearly thirty years into his musical life. Everyday builds on and dives ever deeper into the hip hop and neo-soul elements of his previous work. It is a triumph of genre-blending modern jazz. Kuroda’s playing is sure-footed and pure –– whether on the horn, synth, or Rhodes–– and he virtuosically dances among infectious rhythms of his own creation.
Kuroda’s twenty-one years in the United States have been fruitful. After studying composition at The New School, he began performing with DJ Premier’s Badder Band, Jose James and Akoya Afrobeat, and has recorded as a sideman and bandleader for records on the likes of Blue Note and Concord. But as Kuroda himself says, “the only way to make the music that I want to make is to work hard, every day.” And so we have Everyday, a title which reflects, as Kuroda puts it, “that simple message.”
There is a certain duality to the title that taps into something profound about this music. “Everyday” of course means both daily and commonplace. While Kuroda’s music is anything but average, there is something about the intrinsic and embedded nature of the day-to-day, the incidental rhythms of life, that is reflected and seductively expounded on here. Kuroda describes the process of recording Everyday like this: “Make tracks at home, bring them to the studio, add or replace sounds, invite musicians, repeat the process to polish the track –– as I hear it.” There is both a no-nonsense work ethic here and also a sort of embeddedness, an everydayness, that Kuroda achieves through this practice which perhaps cannot be accessed if one simply waits to get to the studio to begin work. Kuroda builds, tweaks, plays and polishes until what’s coming through the speakers matches what’s been playing in his head everyday. This is exactly what ensures Kuroda’s skillful synthesis of influences which Dean Van Nguyen noted while reviewing 2020’s Fly Moon Die Soon for Pitchfork. One is left with that sense that Kuroda has been tapping it all out everywhere he goes, drumming his fingers on the diner counter, shuffling his feet along the pathway in the park, manifesting the rhythms of his mind. “Groove,” Kuroda says, “is the foundation for all the tracks on Everyday.”
And atop that strong foundation, brought to life by the energy of David Frazier’s drumming, Kuroda’s shimmering lyricism dances all over Everyday. His trumpet playing pops and weaves and rings on the title track and his melodies are, as he puts it, “singable” –– profoundly so on
the album closer, “Curiosity,” on which Kuroda trades trumpet for flugelhorn. Before that, “Bad Bye” is a glittering and classic sounding neo soul effort, featuring a stunning performance from vocalist FiJA. It’s as though Kuroda plucked this track from a dream of Mama’s Gun –– but, unmistakably, it’s Kuroda’s dream and so the song is Kuroda’s, entirely. Likewise with “Iron Giraffe,” in which Kuroda makes space for tenor saxophonist Craig Hill to weave a contemporary reverie of Night Music.
Everyday is hyperaware of a panoply of old ideas and a pantheon of old gods but as Kuroda engages these tropes and personalities day in and day out, he turns it all around in a style that’s undeniably cool and personal. As Pitchfork put it, “Kuroda’s skill is not drawing influence from so many different forms, it’s radiating joy in doing so.” And as Kuroda puts it, “I’m still learning everyday and trying to express myself more clearly in the form of music that I love.” It’s this sterling dedication that makes Takuya Kuroda and Everyday anything but commonplace.
TRUMPETER/COMPOSER
TAKUYA KURODA
ZIG-ZAGS BETWEEN POST-BOP, NEO-SOUL, HIP-HOP AND ELECTRONICA
The Japanese-born trumpet player makes his Concord Records debut with the wildly diverse and infectiously funky Zigzagger
For Immediate Release – Whether moving from Japan to the U.S. or navigating between the influences of jazz, soul, hip-hop, Afrobeat and electronica, trumpeter/composer Takuya Kuroda has never followed a straight path. On his fifth studio album and Concord Records debut, the aptly named Zigzagger, Kuroda darts between those wide-ranging interests with a funky swagger and an intensely swinging vigor. The deeply infectious album, due out October 7, 2016, finds the trumpeter snaking his way around the opposing poles of acoustic and electric, bristling grooves and blissed-out vibes, punchy brass and fluid synths, carving his own distinctive sonic path along the way.
“Life is sometimes not that easy, sometimes not so difficult, and it should never go straight,” Kuroda says. “It’s always zigzagging. So I put i
my soul and spirit into that word.”
Though it wasn’t intentional on Kuroda’s part, the title also can’t help but evoke The Sidewinder, Lee Morgan’s 1964 that became one of the foundation stones of the then-burgeoning soul jazz style. Morgan has been a major influence on Kuroda as a player and as a conceptualist, and with Zigzagger the 36-year old trumpeter offers his own take on the state of the soul jazz art more than half a century later. His version takes into account the electronic innovations of artists like Flying Lotus and J Dilla, but the window-rattling funk and soul-stirring groove forcefully carry on the tradition.
Kuroda’s vision is realized with the help of his regular working band, most of them friends and collaborators for more than a decade since they were students together at New York City’s New School. They include trombonist Corey King, who also shows off his vocal chops on the simmering neo-soul tune “Do They Know;” bassist Rashaan Carter; drummer and percussionist Adam Jackson; and the band’s newest addition, keyboardist Takeshi Ohbayashi, who joined up in 2011. Three tracks bolster the band with master percussionist Keita Ogawa, who first crossed paths with Kuroda 20 years at jam sessions in their native Japan. Album closer “Think Twice” features the electrifying sounds of the popular Brooklyn Afrobeat band Antibalas.
Produced by Kuroda himself, Zigzagger is more purely an expression of his own distinctive approach. It maintains the unified style and infectious grooves of his earlier work, but mixes things up with more eclectic, shifting inspirations and perspectives. “When I write music I see a lot of elements and put them in different places, with different angles, a lot of counterpoint and strong melodies,” Kuroda explains. “It’s always easy to sing to, but has something like advanced changes underneath, kind of hidden so that people don’t get confused by the difficult elements. But it’s there. Musicians always tell me my music is easy to listen to but difficult to play.”
Ohbayashi’s burbling, singing keyboards open the album on “R.S.B.D.,” soon punctuated by Jackson’s forceful, driving rhythms before Kuroda and King burst in with the piquant horn melody. Electronica influences invade midway through the track, with post-production elements including sound effects and wordless vocals transforming the sound from the organic to the constructed, a dichotomy captured by the mash-up title, which stands for “Red Spade Black Diamond.”
The title track is built on the Afrobeat sounds that have become a key part of Kuroda’s music since he began working with the New York-based band Akoya Afrobeat nearly a decade ago. That sound recurs in full flourish when Antibalas joins on the Fela Kuti-inspired “Think Twice” Both show off Kuroda’s gift for combining spiky jazz melodies with buoyant, compelling rhythms.
The title of “I Don’t Remember How It Began” tells the story of its own creation, which began as a heavily electronic Flying Lotus-inspired piece that leaned in a much more straightahead jazz direction once the band got a hold of it. The name also captures the sensation of getting lost in a powerhouse groove, so transporting that it’s hard to recall where it came from, as the band does in the second half of the cut.
Late, lamented hip-hop super-producer J Dilla is an obvious influence on “No Sign,” with its dragging, attitude-laden beat, while a more recent loss is called to mind in the sultry, clever funkiness of the Prince-evoking “Thirteen.” Kuroda’s vulnerability shows in his playing on “Little Words,” which suggests that deep meaning can be found in terse, tough phrases. Finally, both the hip-hop driven “Actors” and the densely layered “Good Day Bad Habit” feature the dazzling percussion of Keita Ogawa. Both were originally written on Kuroda’s computer, with percussive sounds that he expected to be impossible to replicate in the studio. “Ogawa showed up with probably 50 percussion instruments and recreated all these impossible sounds with acoustic instruments,” Kuroda recalls. “He’s a crazy guy.”
Zigzagger is the latest stop along a serpentine path that began in Kobe, Japan, where Kuroda followed his trombonist brother into the local music scene. He moved to the U.S. to study and graduated from the New School’s Jazz and Contemporary Music program in 2006. It was during his time at New School that Kuroda befriended José James, appearing on two of the singer’s albums and writing horn arrangements for his breakthrough album, 2013’s No Beginning No End.
James returned the favor by producing Kuroda’s 2014 Blue Note release Rising Son. That album followed three earlier independent releases, Bitter and High in 2006, Edge in 2011 and Six Aces in 2012. He’s become an active member of the diverse and vibrant NYC jazz scene, playing with the likes of José James, Akoya Afrobeat, Jesse Fischer(changed), and others. Crossing into the world of hip-hop, he’s been playing with and writing arrangements for the legendary DJ Premier, half of the ground-breaking duo Gang Starr.
TRACK LIST:
1. R.S.B.D
2. Zigzagger
3. I Don’t Remember How It Began
4. No Sign
5. Do They Know
6. Thirteen
7. Little Words
8. Actors
9. Good Day Bad Habit
10. Think Twice
1980 兵庫県に生まれる
1992 12歳からトランペットを始める
1996 神戸や大阪のジャズ・クラブでの演奏活動をスタート
2003 渡米、ニューヨークのニュースクール大学ジャズ課に進学
2005 ニューヨークはブルックリン在住の日本人ミュージシャン
黒田卓也(tp)、菅野知明(ds)、本間浩之(g)を中心に
soul, jazz, funk バンド、Chicken Gravyを結成
2007 Chicken Gravy 1st Album『It's better with Chicken Gravy』
2008 Chicken Gravy 2nd Album『JOYRIDE』
2010 初のリーダー作『Bitter & High』を発表
2011 2nd Album『Edge』を発表、全米ラジオチャートの3位にランクイン。
2011 Jose James bandに参加し、world tourに同行。
2013 3rd Album『Six Aces』を発表
2014 USブルーノート・レーベルよりJose Jamesのプロデュースで
Album『Rising Son』でメジャー・デビューを果たす。
2015 1月 DJ Premierのバンドに参加し、
DJ Premier & The BADDER「Bpatter」を発表
2015 8月 JUJUのBLUE NOTE TOKYO 公演に参加
2015 10月 ceroと初めてステージで共演
2016 1月 テレビ朝日「題名のない音楽会」に出演
2016 9月 BLUE NOTE JAZZ FESTIVALにて MISIAと初共演
2016 スペシャル・バンド「J Squad」のメンバーとして
テレビ朝日「報道ステーション」のテーマ曲を手掛ける。
2016 10月 Album『ZIGZAGGER』を発表し、Europa tourへ。
12月 『ZIGZAGGER』Japan tour
2017 4月 キューバで開催されたInternational Jazz Dayに唯一の日本人として出演
2017 5月 TAICOCLUBに出演
2017 6月 DJ Premierの全米tourに参加
2017 7月 J Squad でFUJI ROCK FESTIVAL 17’ に出演
2017 8月 黒田卓也 Europa tour を遂行
2018 9月 黒田卓也 全7公演のJapan tour を遂行
2018 12月 J Squad で全15公演のJapan tour を遂行
自身がホストを務める音楽大忘年会「aTak 2018」を渋谷WWW Xで初開催。
2019 3月 タイバンコクにて若手3人組のユニットMAPをプロデュース。
2019 4月 自身がホストを務める「aTak」をNYで初開催。
2019 5月 Atlanta Jazz Festival に出演
2019 8月 BLUE NOTE Hawaii でのライブに出演
2019 9月 韓国・大邱国際ジャズフェスティバルに出演
2019 12月 自身がホストを務める音楽大忘年会「aTak 2019」を渋谷WWW Xで開催。
黒田卓也 & aTak band / 石若駿 & フレンズ(feat.角銅真実) / 田我流 / ものんくる が出演
2020 2月 自身がホストを務める「aTak」をNYで2回目を開催。
2020 Fly Moon DIe Soon を発表
2022 Midnight Crisp を発表
2025 EVERDAY を発表