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Jazz Articles about Izumi Kimura
Izumi Kimura: Translating The World Into Music
by Ian Patterson
Music may not be the most important thing in the world, not with all the turmoil that is going on, but it would be hard to envisage life without it. At the very least music can be a balm in stormy times, a distraction from the madness. Plenty of philosophers have waxed lyrical about the importance of music, but perhaps Jack Kerouac was closest to the mark when he wrote 'The only truth is music.' For ...
read moreIzumi Kimura & Gerry Hemingway: Kairos
by Ian Patterson
In ancient Greek kairos means the right time for action. The word relates both to archery and weaving. It is an apt title for pianist Izumi Kimura and drummer/percussionist Gerry Hemingway's debut duo album, as in-the-moment intent, precision and intricacy course through their dialogues. No strangers to one another, they first played as duo in 2016, and then in a trio with Barry Guy on Illuminated Silence (Fundacja Sluchaj, 2019). Compositional credits are shared, though the structures are really frames ...
read moreIzumi Kimura & Cora Venus Lunny: Invisible Resistances
by Ian Patterson
Take two of contemporary music's most versatile improvising musicians, give them free reign to play and something of real worth is likely to arise. That is the philosophy of Farpoint Recordings, an Irish label founded by Anthony Kelly and David Stalling in 2004. Their trust in pianist Izumi Kimura and violinist/viola player Cora Venus Lunny is well founded. Fearless performers both, they work in a wide variety of improvised, genre-fluid settings that draw variously from folk, jazz and beyond. On ...
read moreIzumi Kimura, Cora Venus Lunny, Anthony Kelly: Folding
by Ian Patterson
Inspired by environmental sounds in the townlands surrounding Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Folding brings together Irish sound artist Anthony Kelly and two of Ireland's preeminent contemporary musicians, Yokohama-born pianist Izumi Kimura and violinist Cora Venus Lunny, reunited here following their memorable performance at Improvised Music Company's Ban Bam festival in 2017. The song titles reflect the bucolic nature of this project, though there is plenty of passion in Kimura and Lunny's interplay. With his pristine recordings of the sea, wind, ...
read moreIzumi Kimura, Barry Guy, Gerry Hemingway: Illuminated Silence
by Ian Patterson
Although Illuminated Silence is nominally billed as a trio of equalsand, musically speaking, it is just thatit was Japanese pianist Izumi Kimura's lead that brought long-standing musical collaborators Barry Guy and Gerry Hemingway together in Dublin for this live date at St. Ann's Church. Kimura is well known in Irelandher home for over twenty yearsas a brilliant technician and a fearless improviser, and it will come as no surprise to her admirers that Kimura more than holds her own with ...
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