The Tokyo Sessions oozes a deep affinity for the “Land of the Rising Sun”. In 2024 and 2025, Herman – along with double-bassist Thomas Pol, drummer Jimmi Jo Hueting and The Tokyo Sessions album producer Jimmi Jo Hueting – found themselves knee-deep in Tokyo’s hyper-eclectic musical underbelly – districts like Shimokitazawa and Koenji where underground scenes in the city continue to flourish.

Minds were ceaselessly and consistently blown: noise artists, freejazz anarchists, math punk outfits… each murky basement a pandora’s box of surprising genre-shattering sounds. Enraptured and infected, Herman, Hueting and Pol found a box of their own to explore their own out-of-the-box mentality to music.

Under the deft hands of analogue recording sage Akihito Yoshikawa at his legendary Studio Dede – the trio bundled their collective chops to forge fresh sounds through time-honoured means. Joining them are some esteemed names in Japanese music, namely venerated composer/jazz musician Otomo Yoshihide and tenor sax maverick Tomoaki Baba.

Through live instrumentation, sampling and recording, Herman and his hermanos enter a collective space of feeling, where styles like free jazz, noise and new wave coalesce within the same express lane. Guided by the inspired production of Hueting, The Tokyo Sessions became an album where friendships translate into a tapestry of distinct sounds and sensibilities, bundled together in a chaotic, high-rolling adventure.

credits

Benjamin Herman - saxophones, flute
Jimmi Jo Hueting - drums, synthesizers, guitar
Thomas Pol - double bass
Otomo Yoshihide - electric guitar
Tomoaki Baba - tenor saxophone
Shinpei Ruike - trumpet
Ko Ishikawa - sho
Akihito Obama - shakuhachi

Recorded by Akihito Yoshikawa at Studio Dede, Tokyo on 8-11, 14, 15 April 2025
Produced by Jimmi Jo Hueting
Co-produced by Benjamin Herman
Mixed by Robin Hunt
Mastered by Akihito Yoshikawa at Studio Dede, Tokyo