Sakata Orchestra ‎- 4 O'Clock

If you're a Japanoise nerd too, then you probably heard about Akira Sakata, as he did a collab album with the Hijokaidan troupe. Legendary sax player, with an extense recording career, since the 70's, counting many records under his own name, his trio, bands, countless collaborations, and session musician credits. Intense Free Jazz type playing, but always imbued with his unmistakable personality. Everytime he sings on his records, using this traditional Japanese folk style, is just a delight to hear.
During the 80's he reached a creative peak (imho), releasing many albums for the, also legendary, Better Days. "4 O'Clock" is one of those. Released as Sakata Orchestra, this is his Big Band experiment. Free Jazz Big Band, of course. If you're unfamiliar with this style, take Coltrane's Ascension as a starting point.
The records doesn't have a chaotic structure througout, though. It's firmly rooted by the rhythm section, displaying Sakata's idiosyncratic melodic style, which would be hard to describe actually... "whacky" is the, ummm... feeling it invokes the most to me. He has a knack for comedy, so it's not a stretch to say this, I believe. Take the last track, "Trapper", for example: It has this particular sound, like a mockery of Film Noir style soundtracks, know what I mean?
Back to the structure of the songs. It's really easy to follow; the airy, up-to-the-front, 80's production really helps at it, as each instrument is clearly noticeable, even amongst the more chaotic parts. Groovy, catchy rhythms propels the songs forward, with nice delineated parts for each soloist to shine. It's really amazing how sometimes you have this barebones sections, and how controlled the chaotic parts are (which sometimes features 3, or more, different soloists), parts that don't tend to last that long, by the way, and are quickly followed by a next one, specially when you consider the number of people involved (noteworthy is the feature of Ichiko Hashimoto, who plays piano, and also sings on the track "E? E!! E?"; I'll most probably post about her sometime in the future). Really well written, in a way that satisfies shorter attentions spans, and avoids being too mind-numbing, as most Free Jazz ensembles tend to.
What time is it? [You know]