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Natsuki Tamura

Japanese trumpeter and composer NATSUKI TAMURA splits his active performing career between his homeland and the United States. Internationally recognized for his ability to blend a unique vocabulary of extended techniques with touching jazz lyricism, Tamura has been compared to players as diverse as Lester Bowie, Miles Davis, and Freddie Hubbard, with “chops that would make Louis Armstrong jealous.” ? Improvijazzation Nation.

His appearances at festivals worldwide include a solo trumpet performance at the 1998 Texaco New York Jazz Festival, as well as appearances at Newport Jazz in Madarao, Festival of New Trumpet Music at Tonic in NYC, San Francisco Jazz Festival, Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, Japan Jazz Aid, Yamaha Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Yokohama Jazz, Yatsugatake Jazz, Kobe Jazz, Hibiya Jazz, Moers Festival in Germany, and the first annual San Francisco Alternative Music Festival. Club dates include the Knitting Factory, the Stone and Tonic in New York; the Carnival Jazz Club, Babel 2nd, and Pit Inn in Tokyo; Bimhuis in Amsterdam, the Painted Bride in Philadelphia; and Airgin in Yokohama, among many others. In addition to performing with his own group, Tamura has performed with Satoko Fujii, Orkestrova, Jimmy Weinstein, Misha Mengelberg, and Angelo Verploegen, Larry Ochs, Chris Brown, and Ninh among many others. In addition, Tamura has appeared on numerous Japanese recordings. He has recorded seven discs with the New Herd Orchestra, and has also been featured on recordings by the Juggernaut Big Band, and the Music Magic Orchestra.

Born on July 26, 1951 in Otsu, Shiga, Japan, Tamura first picked up the trumpet while performing in his junior high brass band. He began his professional music career after he graduated from high school, playing in numerous bands including the World Sharps Orchestra, Consolation, Skyliners Orchestra, New Herd Orchestra, Music Magic Orchestra, and the Satoko Fujii Ensemble, as well as in his own ensemble. He was the trumpeter for numerous national television shows in Japan from 1973?1982, including The Best Ten, Music Fair, Kirameku Rhythm and many others.

In 1986, he came to the United States to study at Berklee College of Music. He then returned to his native Japan to perform and teach at the Yamaha Popular Music School and at private trumpet studios in Tokyo and Saitama, before coming back to the US to study at the New England Conservatory of Music.

In 1990 Tamura led his quartet on Tobifudo, and in 1997 he released the duo album How Many?, with pianist Satoko Fujii. His stunning solo trumpet release A Song for Jyaki (Leo Records, 1998) earned a Writers Choice 1998 in Coda magazine, and Rick Marx in Jazz Central Station hailed it as “A potent mix of passion and calculated madness, with Tamura’s plaintive horn cry somewhere between a blast and a bleat. Tamura initiates a solo statement that is in the great tradition of original musical storytellers...his music magically captures the sounds of nature.” Andy Bartlett wrote in Coda: “A fabulous set of hiccuping leaps, drones and post-bop trumpet hi-jinx. Tamura goes from growling lows to fluid, free solo runs and echoes not only Don Cherry's slurring anti-virtuosic chops but also Kenny Wheeler's piercing highwire fullness.”

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Album Review

Kaze: Unwritten

Read "Unwritten" reviewed by Doug Collette


Improvised music is an acquired taste, to be sure. But for those who dote on the spontaneous, the liberating sensation that arises from interplay in the moment is nothing less than addictive. In that regard, then, Kaze's fittingly titled Unwritten, a wholly spontaneous piece of work, holds a bounty of fascination. Presenting a formidable challenge to listeners at the very outset of the record, this foursome proffers an initial track, “Thirteen Years," that is just shy of thirty-seven ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams

Read "Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Inciso al DiMenna Center di New York nel settembre 2022, questo album è forse il migliore, il più importante e ambizioso, realizzato dalla pianista giapponese in tempi recenti (e sappiamo quanto corposa sia la sua produzione da un po' di anni in qua). Basta, da subito, scorrere i nomi coinvolti nel progetto (in special modo il “grande vecchio" Wadada Leo Smith) per rendersene conto. La musica, poi, ci toglie da ogni dubbio o imbarazzo: siamo di fronte a un lavoro ...

3
Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Crustal Movement

Read "Crustal Movement" reviewed by Jeff Schwartz


In the first few minutes of “Masoandro Mitsoka," a soft wash of white noise becomes differentiated into piano, percussion, electronics and two trumpets as the acoustic instruments move from breath and friction sounds to identifiably instrumental ones. Next the ensemble reduces to the trumpets, and they move from parallel play to a clear conversation. When piano, percussion and electronics return, they function as a free jazz rhythm section, backing one trumpet, then both, then the other. Instrumental ...

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Album Review

Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement

Read "Crustal Movement" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Crustal Movement is the seventh album from the Peter Orins/Satoko Fujii founded quartet-turned-quintet, Kaze. Now billed as Kaze & Ikue Mori, it represents the second consecutive album from the French- Japanese collective where the electronics artist has played a significant role. The two trumpeters, and original group members, Natsuki Tamura, and Christian Pruvost round out the group. Over the course of more than ten years, Kaze, and their one-time extended sextet, Trouble Kaze, have played at the outer ...

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Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams

Read "Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Country music artist Merle Haggard (1937 -2016) released 66 studio albums in his day, along with five instrumental recordings and several live and compilation discs. When asked in a late-career interview if his upcoming album was a good one, he answered (paraphrasing). “I don't know. I've made so many I don't know if the next one's any good or not." He was probably pulling the interviewer's leg. It is hard to imagine an artist presenting a new work ...

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Album Review

Natsuki Tamura and Gato Libre: Sleeping Cat

Read "Sleeping Cat" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Following the example of his partner and spouse, Satoko Fujii, Natsuki Tamura has embarked on a year-long project of multiple, timed releases. Like his companion, Tamura has found that his trumpet is at home in numerous musical settings. One of his most popular ventures is the group Gato Libre which features Fujii on accordion rather than her customary piano; trombonist Yasuko Kaneko, a group member since 2014's DuDu (Libra), rounds out the trio. Since the inception of the group, Gato ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii, Natsuki Tamura: Pentas: Tribute to Eric and Chris Stern

Read "Pentas: Tribute to Eric and Chris Stern" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Coppia nella vita e nell'attività artistica, Satoko Fujii e Natsuki Tamura presentano con questo Pentas il loro settimo disco (il primo, How Many, risale al 1997). Registrato a Cracovia, esce per la polacca Not Two, che della Fujii ha pubblicato numerosi lavori. La dedica del sottotitolo è a una coppia di appassionati conosciuti a Cracovia, al concerto che seguì la registrazione, il marito della quale, malato, morì proprio la notte successiva. L'album si articola su otto brani, quasi ...

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Recording

Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura Moves from One Musical Extreme to Another on Two New Releases out March 23 on Libra

Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura Moves from One Musical Extreme to Another on Two New Releases out March 23 on Libra

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications

Tamura debuts new First Meeting group and produces fourth Gato Libre album. “Tamura develops his solos with smears and slurred phrases that lead up to eruptive outbursts on his horn.... he takes his instrument to precarious heights and to burrowing depths."-- Frank Rubolino, CadenceTrumpeter Natsuki Tamura swings from the most hard-edged abstraction to the most touching lyricism on his two latest releases. On Cut the Rope (Libra) with First Meeting -- Tamura, pianist Satoko Fujii, guitarist Kelly ...

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Unwritten

Libra Records
2024

buy

Crustal Movement

Circum-Disc
2023

buy

Mosaic

Libra Records
2022

buy

Senzai Ichigu

NativeWit Productions
2022

buy

Sleeping Cat

Libra Records
2022

buy

Hyaku: One Hundred...

Libra Records
2022

buy

One Hundred Dreams Part 1

From: Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams
By Natsuki Tamura

Habana's Dream

From: Mosaic
By Natsuki Tamura

Sekirei

From: Koki Solo
By Natsuki Tamura

Prickly Pear Cactus

From: Prickly Pear Cactus
By Natsuki Tamura

Kaineko

From: Koneko
By Natsuki Tamura

Entity

From: Entity
By Natsuki Tamura

Painted By Moonlight

From: Four
By Natsuki Tamura

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