Christian Pruvost | Natsuki Tamura | Satoko Fujii | Peter Orins | Kaze | Rafale | Libra Records

circum libra records 201

Christian Pruvost – trumpet | Natsuki Tamura – trumpet | Satoko Fujii – piano | Peter Orins – drums

Recorded on November 15, 2010 live in concert at Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, Krakow, Poland, and mixed in December 2010 by Rafal Drewniany. Mastered by Scott Hull on January 26, 2011 at Masterdisk, NYC. Executive producer: Peter Orins. Artwork: Ichiji Tamura. Design. Masako Tanaka. Photography: Aleksandra Copiga.

Tracklist: 1. Noise Chopin [14:32] 2. Anagramme [8:34] 3. The Thaw [7:38] 4. Marie-T [7:54] 5. Polly [13:28] 6. Blast [10:35]

Christian Pruvost | Natsuki Tamura | Satoko Fujii | Peter Orins | Kaze | Rafale | libra records

I went to La Malterie, Lille, France in November 2002

with my Japanese quartet Peter Orins organized a double bill concert with my quartet and his band “Impression.” I had very bad jet lag, but I didn’t feel sleepy at all while they performed before our set because I was so fascinated with their performance. Their music was extraordinary and the structure of the music was very attractive. It was not like any music I had heard before. It is wild but it is also very intellectual. I was so excited and got their CD, which I have listened to many times. I actually analyzed the structure, and have become a big fan of Peter’s compositions.

In April 2010. Natsuki and I got the chance to perform with Peter at La Malterie, and he suggested that we play with Christian. When Natsuki and I listened to Christian’s solo CD, we got very excited – it was a big discovery. His playing is extraordinary – beyond our expectations. There are many great trumpet players in the world who can make the trumpet sound like much more. When he plays trumpet like trumpet, it sounds so beautiful, deep and rich. And when he plays the trumpet with extended technique, no one can tell how and what he does. It sounds unlike anything else. We all enjoyed playing together and we had another chance to perform in November 2010. This recording is from that concert in Krakow.

I don’t play other musicians’ compositions often, because I am more focused on composing my music and playing it in my way. But when I play Peter’s compositions I can be in the music very deeply and I even can hear my voice in his compositions. I love playing his music and am always excited to read what he writes. This project was born from our encounter during my European tour. I hope to keep this project going and see how it grows in future. For musicians getting good collaborators means a lot It is like a getting the best friends in life. — Satoko Fujii

Christian Pruvost | Natsuki Tamura | Satoko Fujii | Peter Orins | Kaze | Rafale | libra records

J’ai joué à La Malterie à Lille (France)

en novembre 2002 avec mon quartet japonais. Peter ORINS organisait le concert, en deux parties, avec mon quartet et son groupe “Impression”. J’avais du mal avec le décalage horaire, mais je n’avais plus du tout envie de dormir quand son groupe a joué, tellement j’étais fascine par leur performance. Leur musique était extraordinaire et sa structure très attrayante. Ca ne ressemblait en rien à quelque chose que je connaissais. Musique sauvage, mais aussi tres réfléchie. Très enthousiaste, j’ai eu leur CD, que j’ai ecouté de nombreuses fois. J’ai en fait décortiqué la structure musicaie, et je suis devenue une grande fan des compositions de Peter.

En avril 2010, Natsuki et moi avons eu la chance de jouer avec Peter à La Malterie, et il a suggéré que nous jouions avec Christian. Lorsque nous avons écouté le disque solo de Christian, nous étions très enthousiastes – c’était une grande d’couverte. Son jeu est extraordinaire – au-delà de nos attentes. Il y a beaucoup de grands trompettistes dans le monde qui peuvent faire sonner la trompette beaucoup plus que ce qu’elle permet. Quand il joue de la trompette de manière classique, le son est si beau, riche et profond. Et quand il joue. de la trompette avec la technique étendue, personne ne peut dire comment et ce qu’il fait Son son ne ressemble à aucun autre. Nous avons tous pris plaisir à jouer ensemble et nous avons eu une autre occasion de jouer en Novembre 2010. Cet enregistrement provient de ce concert à Cracovie.

Je ne joue pas souvent les compositions d’autres musiciens, parce que je suis plus concentré sur le fait de composer ma musique et de comment la jouer. Mais quand je joue les morceaux de Peter, je peux être très profondément dans la musique et je peux méme entendre ma voix dans ses compositions. J’adore jouer sa musique et je suis toujours heureux de lire ce qu’il écrit Ce projet est né de notre rencontre au cours de ma tournée européenne. J’espère continuer ce projet et voir comment il se développe à l’avenir. Pour les musiciens, obtenir de bons “collaborateurs” signifie beaucoup. C’est comme rencontrer ses meilleurs amis dans la vie. — Satoko Fujii

Christian Pruvost | Natsuki Tamura | Satoko Fujii | Peter Orins | Kaze | Rafale | libra records

Christian Pruvost | Photo by Peter Gannushkin

It’s no easy task keeping track of the bands under the baton of pianist Satoko Fujii.

The prolific avant-garde artist from Japan leads numerous ensembles, including four distinct big bands and multiple quartets and trios, in addition to co-leading duo outings with her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, very notably on the marvelous Chun (Libra, 2008). She seems to put together at least one new ensemble per year, and in 2011 it’s Kaze, a quartet featuring her musical soul mate Tamura, and a pair of adventurous cohorts, French drummer Peter Orins and trumpeter Christian Pruvost.

Adventure is always the key with Fujii. Classically trained, she abandoned that structured musical world to explore her own vision, a mixture of avant-garde jazz and modern classical, rock and folk music and freewheeling improvised sounds. Rafale captures a 2010 concert from Krakow, Poland, that served as a celebration of the bicentennial of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin’s birth. The set opens with the Tamura-penned “Noise Chopin,” and does, indeed, open with “noise”—the whining creak of Tamura’s trumpet sounding like the movement of a rusty hinge, the swinging open of an aged door. The sound evolves, as Tamura is joined by Pruvost, into a power tool serenade that moves into a military march when Orins rolls into the mix. Five minutes in, Fujii’s piano makes its appearance, a brief miasma of a collective interlude that gives way to a spacious trumpet/percussion section, leading to a delicately beautiful solo piano movement.

That’s the way it is with Kaze’s music: twists and turns, noise followed by lyrical beauty; nuanced percussion followed by powerhouse drumming; and wild cacophonies that lead into introspective solo slots. Expect the unexpected.

Orins contributes three tunes to the set. “Anagramme” opens with dry trumpet chatter—the song of a parched bird—underlain by an electric hum. Fujii’s piano comes in on a ruminative note, drawing Orins in for a section with a very structured feel.

Fujii’s “The Thaw” features the pianist at her most lyrical, with a dry trumpet breeze fluttering over her piano, while “Blast” begins with what sounds like a big, sizzling piece of electronics—a large screen TV, perhaps—short circuiting toward an explosion. After a brief reign of chaos, structure gels, then breaks apart in spectacular fashion, that big screen TV blown to smithereens. Fujii’s Rafale is, ultimately, a stimulating experience for open ears. — Dan McClenaghan

Christian Pruvost | Natsuki Tamura | Satoko Fujii | Peter Orins | Kaze | Rafale | libra records

Peter Orins | Photo by Peter Gannushkin

Christian Pruvost | Natsuki Tamura | Satoko Fujii | Peter Orins | Kaze | Rafale | libra records

 

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One thought on “Christian Pruvost | Natsuki Tamura | Satoko Fujii | Peter Orins | Kaze | Rafale | Libra Records

  1. Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and pianist Satoko Fujii are as furiously creative as they are prolific. These days, they release new music in batches of three or four CDs, each with different personnel, though often with some compositional overlap—completely forgivable, since the same material sounds completely different (often rewardingly so) in the hands of a different ensemble. It is rare, however, that they feature others’ compositions—a fact Fujii herself remarks upon in Rafaele’s brief liner notes. Kaze, one of Fujii and Tamura’s latest ventures, is a two-trumpet, piano and drums quartet. The drummer is Peter Orins, a French musician with whom Fujii and Tamura shared a bill a decade ago. Like Tamura, trumpeter Christian Pruvost is as interested in extended techniques as he is, as Fujii points out, in “playing the trumpet like a trumpet.” There are some incredible textures and unprecedented sounds on Rafaele. There is also some remarkable music.

    Open structures predominate, giving the soloists plenty of free rein.Tamura’s only piece, “Noise Chopin,” opens with the two trumpeters performing a noisy, guttural, buzzing duet that’s interrupted by Orins’ martial drumming. The ensuing three-way conversation is delightful, humorous almost, as Pruvost sounds like an old record being played backwards, while Tamura mutters and squeaks in the background. Fujii finally enters eight minutes in, her big, ringing chords imparting grandiose melancholy to the proceedings.

    More bizarre and unprecedented sounds begin Orins’ “Anagramme,” which veers off on a different tangent courtesy of Fujii’s bass line and spooky dark harmonies. These, in turn, support the piece’s very lengthy melodic line. The music turns darker and more turbulent as the trumpets attenuate the melody, adding improvisational asides that wander further away from the written material as the intensity builds.

    Fujii’s “The Thaw,” a pretty piece with a melody that sounds as if it could be derived from an ancient Japanese folk tune, opens with Orins’ drum solo. He’s an interesting player, with an approach inspired by the direction that Paul Motian has been taking over the past two decades. Orins’ other two tunes, the somber “Marie-T” and the furiously chaotic “Polly,” provide ample solo space for Fujii and both trumpeters, while maintaining distinct melodic and harmonic identities. The first few minutes of Fujii’s “Blast” feature some of the set’s most abstract and furious improvising before the pianist and drummer introduce the tune’s melodic and harmonic content, an utterly rocking line that provides fodder for even more raucous improvisation and another wild solo from Orins.

    With over 50 recordings to their credit, the Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura tandem has made clear that they possess two of the most fecund minds in the avant-jazz world. Carefully curated collaborations with similarly gifted artists such as Orins and Pruvost only serve to further strengthen and vary their collective musical vision. Rafaele features cutting edge trumpet music, and ecstatic, unbridled improvisational energy.

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