Relying on twisted, distorted, and primitive sounds, trumpeter
Natsuki Tamura blows alone on this unusual recording. With a nod to fellow trumpeters Herb Robertson and
Lester Bowie,
Tamura -- the spouse of new-music pianist
Satoko Fujii -- offers a dozen individualized collages of sound featuring his strangely morose, exploratory excursions. Call him the DuBuffet of the trumpet;
Tamura slurps notes with squeezed tones, half-fingered smears, and multi-tonal exotica. Sounding like Ornette after three shots,
Tamura pinches sour candies, then suddenly shifts tempos, only to dip into his bag of distorted splotches of sound. Remarkable at times, and surprisingly accessible,
A Song for Jyaki shocks in an eerily provocative way. The experiments with mutes, multi-phonics, and echoes, coupled with purposeful distortion and leisurely pace, add up to an interesting, if not entirely realized, CD. ~ Steve Loewy