Natsuki Tamura

Japanese trumpeter and composer NATSUKI TAMURAsplits his active performing career between his homelandand the United States. Internationally recognized for hisability to blend a unique vocabulary of extended techniqueswith touching jazz lyricism, Tamura has been compared toplayers as diverse as Lester Bowie, Miles Davis, andFreddie Hubbard, with “chops that would make LouisArmstrong jealous.” ? Improvijazzation Nation.

His appearances at festivals worldwide include a solotrumpet performance at the 1998 Texaco New York JazzFestival, as well as appearances at Newport Jazz inMadarao, Festival of New Trumpet Music at Tonic in NYC,San Francisco Jazz Festival, Frick Fine Arts Auditorium,Japan Jazz Aid, Yamaha Jazz Festival, Vancouver JazzFestival, Yokohama Jazz, Yatsugatake Jazz, Kobe Jazz,Hibiya Jazz, Moers Festival in Germany, and the firstannual San Francisco Alternative Music Festival. Club datesinclude the Knitting Factory, the Stone and Tonic in NewYork; the Carnival Jazz Club, Babel 2nd, and Pit Inn inTokyo; Bimhuis in Amsterdam, the Painted Bride inPhiladelphia; and Airgin in Yokohama, among many others.In addition to performing with his own group, Tamura hasperformed 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 theJuggernaut Big Band, and the Music Magic Orchestra.

Born on July 26, 1951 in Otsu, Shiga, Japan, Tamura firstpicked up the trumpet while performing in his junior highbrass band. He began his professional music career afterhe graduated from high school, playing in numerous bandsincluding the World Sharps Orchestra, Consolation,Skyliners Orchestra, New Herd Orchestra, Music MagicOrchestra, and the Satoko Fujii Ensemble, as well as in hisown ensemble. He was the trumpeter for numerous nationaltelevision shows in Japan from 1973?1982, including TheBest Ten, Music Fair, Kirameku Rhythm and many others.

In 1986, he came to the United States to study at BerkleeCollege of Music. He then returned to his native Japan toperform and teach at the Yamaha Popular Music Schooland at private trumpet studios in Tokyo and Saitama, beforecoming back to the US to study at the New EnglandConservatory of Music.

In 1990 Tamura led his quartet on Tobifudo, and in 1997 hereleased the duo album How Many?, with pianist SatokoFujii. His stunning solo trumpet release A Song for Jyaki(Leo Records, 1998) earned a Writers Choice 1998 inCoda magazine, and Rick Marx in Jazz Central Stationhailed it as “A potent mix of passion and calculatedmadness, with Tamura’s plaintive horn cry somewherebetween a blast and a bleat. Tamura initiates a solostatement that is in the great tradition of original musicalstorytellers...his music magically captures the sounds ofnature.” Andy Bartlett wrote in Coda: “A fabulous set ofhiccuping leaps, drones and post-bop trumpet hi-jinx.Tamura goes from growling lows to fluid, free solo runs andechoes not only Don Cherry's slurring anti-virtuosic chopsbut also Kenny Wheeler's piercing highwire fullness.”

White & Blue, a duo album recorded in 2000 with drummersJim Black and Aaron Alexander, made critics’ Top 10 lists inCoda magazine and was lauded by S.D. Feeney in FaceMagazine as “expressive journeys across soniclandscapes not found on most maps." “What is most strikingis not simply the high level of interaction,” wrote StuartBroomer in Coda, "but the sense of sound as ceremony.”

Tamura’s collaborations with his wife, pianist Satoko Fujii,reveal an intense musical empathy between the two, andhave garnered wide popular and critical acclaim. JimSantella in All About Jazz described their synergy well in hisglowing review of the couple’s recent duo disc, In Krakow, InNovember (Not Two, 2006): “… the creative coupleforcefully demonstrates what can happen when you let yourmusical ideas run free… Similarly, Tamura’s mournfultrumpet can fly high or low in search of his next surprise.Oftentimes, they both issue plaintive moans that sing likeangels on high.” Andy Hamilton of The Wire observed, “…melody and introspection are the key to In Krakow. The title-track offers a haunting East European vision, with Tamura'splaying showing a melancholy power reminiscent of MilesDavis's Lift To The Scaffold.” Of their first duo recordingHow Many? (Leo Records, 1997), Chris Kelsey ofCadence magazine wrote: "Together Tamura and Fujiiconstruct perfect little structures; their collaboration isbalanced, astute, and very musical. A lovely album." Clouds,their 2002 duo release, was greeted with similar enthusiasmby Peter Marsh of the BBC: “… the interplay is exquisite;Fujii and Tamura offer unsentimental beauty, space, silenceand humour… Proof that improvised music can beemotionally engaging as well as ear tickling, Fujii andTamura give us six clouds, all with a solid silver lining” whileJason Bivins in Cadence opined: “…a half-dozen beautifulcompositions as protean and rarefied as their names imply.This is extremely beautiful music, defined by its intelligenceand risk.” Tamura is also featured on all of the CDs withSatoko Fujii’s various orchestras (NY, Tokyo, Nagoya andKobe) and has contributed original compositions andarrangements to each of their 11 critically celebratedalbums ? South Wind, JO, Double Take, The Future of thePast, Before the Dawn, Blueprint, Nagoyanian, and thesimultaneous 2006 release of Fujii’s four criticallyacclaimed big-band projects on four different labels:Undulation: Satoko Fujii Orchestra NY; Live!!: Satoko FujiiOrchestra Tokyo (CD + DVD), Maru: Satoko FujiiOrchestra Nagoya; and Kobe Yee!!: Satoko Fujii OrchestraKobe. In addition, he’s featured on Fujii’s Quartet CDZephyros, and Orkestra Rova’s An Alligator in your Wallet.

Natsuki Tamura has been lauded consistently for hisincredible versatility. Of his work on the 2003 releaseMinerva featuring Fujii and Tamura's Japanese Quartet."Natsuki Tamura's trumpet has some of the stark,melancholy lyricism of Miles, the bristling rage of late 60sFreddie Hubbard and a dollop of the extended techniques ofW. Leo Smith and Lester Bowie." (Mark Keresman,JazzReview.com.) Peter Marsh of the BBC had this to sayof the 2003 Natsuki Tamura Quartet release Hada Hada:"…a deeply compelling listen. Imagine Don Cherry woke upone morning, found he'd joined an avant goth-rock band andwas booked to score an Italian horror movie. It might be anunlikely scenario, but it goes some way to describing thismagnificent sprawl of a record." Tamura’s second soloalbum, Ko Ko Ko Ke earned a Top CD of 2004 from Fran?ois Couture and was praised by him in All Music Guide asbeing “A highly serene, peaceful, intimate journey throughthe art of melody and play” while Tamura’s 2004 Quartetrelease Exit was deemed “…a brilliantly executed set with aneon glow.” (Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz.)

Tamura toured extensively in 2005 and released twocritically acclaimed discs as a leader, In the Tank, andStrange Village. The latter was the debut recording of hisacoustic quartet, Gato Libre, which features Satoko Fujii onaccordion, Tsumura Kazuhiko on guitar, and KoreyasuNorikatsu on bass, and for which Tamura penned all thecompositions. Named one of the Top 10 CDs of 2005 byRandy McElligott of CHUO FM 89, it was described as “… arecord of surprisingly soft and lyrical beauty that at timesborders on flat-out impressionism,” by Rick Anderson in CDHotlist for Libraries. Dennis Gonzalez of One Final Noteobserved, “Every so often a record comes along from anestablished artist that makes one reassess his or heraccomplishments. The initial document from the Japanesequartet Gato Libre is such a release… Indeed, StrangeVillage is proof that Tamura and Fujii and truly multi-dimensional artists.” In the Tank, listed as one of the Top10 CDs for 2005 by All About Jazz, is in an altogetherdifferent vein. Hailed as a “triumphant electro-acousticadventure” by Daniel Spicer of Jazzwise, it features twoelectric guitarists, Takayuki Kato and Elliott Sharp, (whoalso doubles on soprano sax), as well as Satoko Fujii onacoustic piano. “Think AMM meets blues guitar meets1970s Miles Davis and you get some idea of the disc’sflavor: a slow-moving panorama for the ears, where soundsare systematically added, repeated, refined, and replaced inturn,” wrote Nate Dorward in Cadence. Tamura alsoappeared on two well-received releases with his wife SatokoFujii in 2005: Live in Japan, 2004 and Angelona. This busyyear also yielded Live at Moers with Satoh Masahiko andSAIFA.

In 2006 Tamura released his second CD with Gato Libre,the critically acclaimed Nomad, which once again delvedinto European folk music, this time even more intensely aseach of his compositions explores the atmosphere of adifferent European city during a certain month of the year.Ray Comiskey of The Irish Times wrote of this disc:“Natsuki Tamura, the extraordinary Japanese trumpeter,gives a very personal response to European folk musics…Though there are elements of flamenco, French musette,Celtic dance and Middle European shadings in these spare“evocations” of sundry cities, this is Tamura’s music; hishuge, mournful sound and sparse phrasing are consistentlyexpressive… the album is full of striking playing.” Hisplaying on this CD was described as “…lyrically beautifuland commanding” by Andy Hamilton in The Wire and PhilipJohnson of The Independent offered this eloquent praise:“Natsuki Tamura, who composes all the material, is the realstar, his ghostly, poetic sound filling the air with greatbeauty.”

Meanwhile, Tamura was heralded for his work on the 2006release of the Satoko Fujii Four, When We Were There.Fragment, a disc introducing their Junk Box trio withTamura, Fujii, and percussionist/composer John Hollenbeckalso appeared in 2006. As Daniel Spicer wrote of Fragmentin JazzWise, “Tamura spits out gloriously rude Lester-Bowie-like snorts, lows like a herd of robotic cattle or makeslike a wheezy howler monkey… Cool and clever.” GlennAstarita of All About Jazz declared it “Required listening.”

Tamura was also busy performing in 2006. He toured Japanwith Gato Libre, and also appeared at Toyko’s Pit Inn aspart of "The 22nd Tokyo Summer Festival 2006" with two ofFujii’s big bands, Orchestra Tokyo and Orchestra Nagoya.The Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York, of which he is amember, played at The Stone in New York City in June2006, a show which was chosen as one of the “BestPerformances of 2006” by All About Jazz New York. Hewas also heard at FIMAV (Victoriaville Festival, Canada)with the Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble, at "Lisbon's 2006Jazz em Agosto" with Electric Ascension as part of theSatoko Fujii Four, (with Mark Dresser and Jim Black) andthroughout Europe as a member of the Satoko Fujii Quartet.

As a composer, Tamura explores a wide range of materialfrom works based on traditional Japanese and Europeanelements to his own distinctive pieces that incorporatecontrasting episodes into surreal yet carefully balancedstructures. Natsuki Tamura’s creative impulses seemlimitless, which led Fran?ois Couture in All Music Guide todeclare that “… we can officially say there are two NatsukiTamuras: The one playing angular jazz-rock or ferociousfree improv (see Hada Hada or In the Tank) and the onewriting simple melodies of stunning beauty (witness Ko KoKo Ke and Strange Village). How the two of them live in thesame body and breathe through the same trumpet mightremain a mystery…”