Home » Jazz Articles » Natsuki Tamura
Jazz Articles about Natsuki Tamura
Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York: Entity
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist / composer Satoko Fujii has staked out her ground as one of the most original voices in jazz—or in any artform, for that matter. She has released more than eighty albums, beginning with her 1995 debut, Something About Water (Libra Records), a piano duet set with Paul Bley. She tours relentlessly. She records in every ensemble format imaginable: solos, duos, trios, quartets and big bands. Lots of big bands, based in Berlin, Tokyo, Kobe, Nagoya, New York.
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii Orchestra New York: Entity
by Karl Ackermann
As she did in 2019, pianist/composer Satoko Fujii—an artist at home in many formations—opens the new decade with an orchestra recording. Entity, from Fujii's Orchestra New York, is the eleventh release from the ensemble that has remained largely intact for almost twenty-three years. It is an all-star collective that includes saxophonists Oscar Noriega, Ellery Eskelin and Tony Malaby, trumpeters Natsuki Tamura and Herb Robertson, guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Ches Smith. Entity has its moments of tranquility but ...
Continue ReadingGato 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 Reading
