Yuto Mitomi, a New York City-based jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer, self-releases his third album Epicycle on Friday February 7. The album’s eight tracks, which play with themes of the movements of celestial bodies, the weather and, umm, cats, were recorded in late 2021 at Power Station at Berklee and mixed at the Bunker Studios in South Williamsburg. The album is fresh, playful and artfully executed.
Epicycle features five original compositions alongside three fully improvised tracks recorded live in the studio. The album’s track listing toys with the concept of ‘epicycles’, a geometric model first conceived by the ancient Greeks to explain the planets’ strange motions through the night sky. The evocations of Epicycle Parts I & II, Moony Night and Same Sky, Same Night reflect the intricate, interwoven layers of the quartet.
The album opens with Morning Haze and Dew, two compositions which set the laid back, exquisite tone for the record. Next come the loosely-related Epicycle Part I and Epicycle Part II, the one a freeform aphelion whisper, the other a playful, time-jumpy perihelion along the album’s wandering orbit.
These are followed by the aptly named Grappling Cats, one of the improvised free jazz numbers. Here we see Mitomi, Takahiro Izumikawa (piano), Moto Fukushima (six-string bass) and Keita Ogawa (percussion) trading sometimes pleasant, sometimes painful stabs at feline internment.
Cats folds pleasantly into Moony Night, the album’s lead single (released 24th February). The track is driven by a gorgeous piano motif, itself ready-made for some J Dilla-esque hip hop treatment. It is here, on the opening bars of Moony Night, that the quality of the recording can best be appreciated: the kick drum becomes not some dull thud but a full, three-dimensional shape, and the twinkle of the keys seems just a bit brighter.
A graduate of the City College of New York, Yuto Mitomi has built a reputation for his innovative approach to jazz, performing at iconic venues like Tomi, Manhattan’s stylish jazz club and restaurant. Central to Mitomi’s work is the bridge between tradition and innovation: the album plays with innovative rhythms and harmonic setups while staying grounded in the rich history of jazz (see, during the live performance of lead single Moony Night, drummer Keita Ogawa’s homage to legendary bandleader Art Blakey).
The album concludes with Same Sky, Same Night, a heartfelt 8-minute jazz ballad with a rocky twist. Epicycle by Yuto Mitomi is available to stream and buy February 7th
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