Whichever way you look at it, there's something a little bit different about Indigo Jam Unit. The Osaka-based band has succeeded on its own terms, eschewing the Tokyo club-jazz crowd, but at the same time carving out their own little niche within the scene. They've adopted a slightly different approach to their career to date, partly by accident and partly by design, and have consequently established themselves as a band with a distinct sound and image.
The first thing you notice about Indigo Jam Unit is the unconventional lineup — a quartet that is essentially a piano trio with an extra drummer — a quality best appreciated on stage.
While this has come to be something of a trademark feature of the band's sound, it's not something that was planned from the outset. Pianist Yoshichika Tarue explains, "Well, initially bassist Katsuhiko Sasai and I were playing in two bands. One featured Isao Wasano on drums and the other was a jazz trio with Takehiro Shimizu on drums. Our first album, 'Demonstration,' was basically the tracks from the two trios recorded separately. It was only after that recording that we decided to become a four piece and it was from the second album that we started to feature some twin drum tracks."