Jazz Articles about Junk Box

Junk Box: Fragment

by Glenn Astarita
June 21, 2006

The mother of invention left these three ambitiously minded modern jazz stalwarts to pursue matters within a multidirectional discourse. On Fragment, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura entangles an organic sound with trickery and creativity, without any noticeable use of electronics. Besides the growls, squeaks and multiphonics, Tamura abets pianist Satoko Fujii's newly fashioned “com-improv" concept: composed improvisation. And with percussionist John Hollenbeck injecting radiance, timbre and crunching backbeats, the trio revels within semi-structural components.

As a trumpeter, Tamura can sometimes ...