Jazz Articles about Natsuki Tamura

About Natsuki Tamura

Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Crustal Movement

Read "Crustal Movement" reviewed by Jeff Schwartz

by Jeff Schwartz
April 21, 2023

In the first few minutes of “Masoandro Mitsoka," a soft wash of white noise becomes differentiated into piano, percussion, electronics and two trumpets as the acoustic instruments move from breath and friction sounds to identifiably instrumental ones. Next the ensemble reduces to the trumpets, and they move from parallel play to a clear conversation. When piano, percussion and electronics return, they function as a free jazz rhythm section, backing one trumpet, then both, then the other. Instrumental ...

Album Review

Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement

Read "Crustal Movement" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
March 24, 2023

Crustal Movement is the seventh album from the Peter Orins/Satoko Fujii founded quartet-turned-quintet, Kaze. Now billed as Kaze & Ikue Mori, it represents the second consecutive album from the French- Japanese collective where the electronics artist has played a significant role. The two trumpeters, and original group members, Natsuki Tamura, and Christian Pruvost round out the group. Over the course of more than ten years, Kaze, and their one-time extended sextet, Trouble Kaze, have played at the outer ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams

Read "Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 22, 2022

Country music artist Merle Haggard (1937 -2016) released 66 studio albums in his day, along with five instrumental recordings and several live and compilation discs. When asked in a late-career interview if his upcoming album was a good one, he answered (paraphrasing). “I don't know. I've made so many I don't know if the next one's any good or not." He was probably pulling the interviewer's leg. It is hard to imagine an artist presenting a new work ...

Album Review

Natsuki Tamura and Gato Libre: Sleeping Cat

Read "Sleeping Cat" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
August 1, 2022

Following the example of his partner and spouse, Satoko Fujii, Natsuki Tamura has embarked on a year-long project of multiple, timed releases. Like his companion, Tamura has found that his trumpet is at home in numerous musical settings. One of his most popular ventures is the group Gato Libre which features Fujii on accordion rather than her customary piano; trombonist Yasuko Kaneko, a group member since 2014's DuDu (Libra), rounds out the trio. Since the inception of the group, Gato ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii, Natsuki Tamura: Pentas: Tribute to Eric and Chris Stern

Read "Pentas: Tribute to Eric and Chris Stern" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
March 30, 2022

Coppia nella vita e nell'attività artistica, Satoko Fujii e Natsuki Tamura presentano con questo Pentas il loro settimo disco (il primo, How Many, risale al 1997). Registrato a Cracovia, esce per la polacca Not Two, che della Fujii ha pubblicato numerosi lavori. La dedica del sottotitolo è a una coppia di appassionati conosciuti a Cracovia, al concerto che seguì la registrazione, il marito della quale, malato, morì proprio la notte successiva. L'album si articola su otto brani, quasi ...

Album Review

Natuski Tamura: Summer Tree

Read "Summer Tree" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
February 24, 2022

Natsuki Tamura explodes the conventions of the trumpet. The ironically titled Summer Tree is his fifth solo album though his partner, and here, producer, Satoko Fujii, lends a vocal contribution on one of four extended compositions. Tamura's previous pandemic project, Koki Solo (Libra Records, 2021) was lockdown escapism with an ear toward humor and an eye toward the more resonant utensils in his kitchen. Summer Tree is dark and complex but Tamura's most accessible solo album. Two fully improvised pieces ...

Album Review

Natsuki Tamura: Summer Tree

Read "Summer Tree" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
February 15, 2022

In 2002, the Natsuki Tamura Quartet released an album called Hada Hada (Libra Records). It sounded as if it was plugged into ten thousand volts, even Tamura's trumpet, and especially Satoko Fujii's synthesizer, in the making of a soundtrack to a “Cyborgs March on the Capitol" movie. And those cyborgs were mad. Odd stuff. In 2022, Tamura goes it solo on Summer Tree, crafting another soundtrack, Covid style, in isolation, in a small recording studio in his apartment in Kobe, ...