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Gato Libre: Neko
by Dan McClenaghan
Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura's Gato Libre could now be called Gato Diferente. The group's lineup changed five albums into its journey, after the release of Forever (Libra Records, 2011), with the death of bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu. And changed again with the addition--after Norikatsu's passing--of trombonist Yasuko Kaneko. Then, in 2015, the group's guitarist, Kazuhiko Tsumura passed, leaving Tamura and Satoko Fujii--who plays accordion in the group, rather than her more customary piano--and the leader, Tamura, as the sole original members of ...
Continue ReadingNatsuki Tamura, Alexander Frangenheim: Nax
by Alberto Bazzurro
Quello che non avreste mai voluto sapere dell'improvvisazione radicale e vi arriva invece fra capo e collo: ecco cosa ci offre questo CD, inciso a Berlino del gennaio 2013 in duo fra il bassista, appunto berlinese, Alexander Frangenheim e il trombettista nipponico Natsuki Tamura (altrove ben altrimenti convincente: vedi il quartetto Gato Libre e i lavori con Satoko Fujii), il primo a evocare--per lo più sgomitando di archetto--suoni ascrivibili più alla bottega di un ebanista che a una sala da ...
Continue ReadingGato Libre: DuDu
by Hrayr Attarian
Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura's quartet Gato Libre has always recorded stimulating, progressive music heavily laced with a Spanish lyricism. DuDu is no exception. “Mouse" is the prime example of this. On it the musicians push far the harmonic boundaries of their respective instruments creating delightfully jarring cacophony intertwined with intensely melodic explorations.Despite the personnel change after bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu's untimely death, the group remains remarkable cohesive. The new recruit, trombonist Yasuko Kaneko brings a warm fluidity to the bottom ...
Continue ReadingGato Libre: DuDu
by John Sharpe
The fifth album by Gato Libre, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura's acoustic quartet, is the first since the sudden death of bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu in 2011. Having thought long and hard about whether to continue, Tamura recruited trombonist Yasuko Kaneko as a replacement. While the European folk music inspiration of previous outings like Shiro (Libra Records, 2009) and Forever (Libra Records, 2012) remains intact, the change has engendered more the feel of a chamber outfit, albeit one at times crossed with a ...
Continue ReadingGato Libre: DuDu
by Dan McClenaghan
There are a lot of high energy, wild and out there sounds screaming around in Natsuki Tamura's discography--the explosively electric Hada Hada (Libra Records, 2002), the sizzling Exit (Libra Records, 2004), and any number of unfettered collaborations with his wife, pianist Satoko Fujii. But his Gato Libre discs are one of the Japanese trumpeter's more laid-back methods of expression. An acoustic quartet that explores European folk themes in a tranquil and occasionally off-center way, the five previous sets by the ...
Continue ReadingNatsuki Tamura: Dragon Nat
by Dave Wayne
The instrumentalist begins his career as, essentially, a solo artist. Whether is practicing long tones or scales or drum rudiments, nearly everyone who plays a musical instrument starts out unaccompanied. On the road to mastery, most musicians spend thousands of hours playing alone. In jazz, solo recordings by musicians other than pianists or guitarists are a relatively recent phenomenon, and the prospect of listening to a horn or drum soloist playing unaccompanied for an hour or more may seem daunting, ...
Continue ReadingNatsuki Tamura and Satoko Fujii: Muku
by Dave Wayne
It's surprising that trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and pianist Satoko Fujii--partners in music and life--have only recorded five duet CDs during the course of their incredibly prolific and artistically fecund collaboration. As Fujii wryly explains in her liner notes, each of their duet recordings is different--some are entirely freely improvised, others consist solely of compositions written by either Fujii or Tamura. The location--an important metric in the Fujii/Tamura universe--of each duet recording has also been different. Recorded in New York City, ...
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