Piano, bass and drums form the engine of jazz. Most jazz bands build on this foundation by adding other instruments, while a select few work from within to upend the conventions of the piano trio and fashion a completely new sound. Ub-X, one of the latter, is a group that sounds like no other.
With disconcerting rhythms, startling dynamic shifts and strange, mesmerizing vocals, Ub-X has recreated the standard jazz piano trio in a remarkably new form. Pianist and vocalist Ichiko Hashimoto, bassist Nobuyoshi Ino and drummer Atsuo Fujimoto all play jazz, but in quickened, suggestive ways.
Each brings their own unique artistry to the trio. Fujimoto's drumming flows into free jazz, then ebbs back to a central rhythm. Ino's bass thunders and pounds, then seems to float notes into the air. Hashimoto's vocals sound like eavesdropped conversations that the band sets to snippets of seemingly familiar melodies. Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole they are not.