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Satoko Fujii / Natsuki Tamura — Pentas
(Not Two MW999, 2020, CD)

by Jon Davis, Published 2021-06-16

Pentas Cover art

The previous collaboration between Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura was the highly abstract improvisational album Kisaragi (2017). Pentas finds the duo in a very different mood, working with pre-arranged compositions, though of course incorporating improvisation to varying degrees — this is, roughly speaking, jazz. The album starts out with the ironically titled track, “Not Together,” which is a piece involving a number of melodic and rhythmic phrases that are tossed around between Fujii’s left and right hands on the piano and Tamura on the trumpet. Sometimes they’re very close to being together, but at other times they drift apart, with one playing one part of the melody while another part is going on elsewhere. As the piece develops, more and more embellishments are added, always keeping to staccato delivery of relatively short bursts of notes. The title track moves into moody territory, with impressionistic chords and tinkles on the piano while the trumpet plays a pensive melody. “Rising” is the longest track, and starts out with Fujii plucking strings inside the piano (which is likely also prepared in some way) and Tamura making strange, strangled noises on the trumpet, but gradually evolves into a lyrical and dramatic duet with recurring themes and flourishing excursions, and from there into intense flurries of notes, and finally ending with the lyrical section reprised. Of the Fujii / Tamura duo albums I’ve heard so far, Pentas is the most enjoyable, and while it’s not in the mainstream of jazz, listeners who aren’t fond of the more avant sounds thse two are prone to might well find it an enjoyable listen.

Filed under: New releases, 2020 releases

Related artist(s): Satoko Fujii, Natsuki Tamura

More info
http://https://www.nottwo.com/mw999

 

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