Aki Takase - Aki Takase Japanic: Thema Prima (2019)

Having feted a number of significant composers in the past - from Fats Waller, W.C. Handy and Duke Ellington to Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy - this recent collaboration of Takase's with DJ Illvibe reveals a culmination of the pianist's fascination and influence of a non-jazz composer this time around in Conlon Nancarrow, who arguably was best known for his works for player pianos that went well beyond human capacity and capabilities. I have been working with DJ Illvibe for a long time and I think it relates to my inspiration of and approach to Nancarrow... (so) I thought I could compose in a similar way, explains Takase regarding this new project.Along with DJ Illvibe, the members of the band here are tenor/soprano saxophonist Daniel Erdmann, bassist Johannes Fink and drummer Dag Magnus Narvesen. And the selections they play herein are a result of her decades-long work as a composer. With this electro-acoustic instrumentation in mind, however, only a few of the tunes are actually notated. She admits, the bigger part of it is definitely improvised. (...) I wanted to show several ways, - with different times and speeds - the dynamics simultaneously together, and through them to achieve overlapping and crossings. (..) The music shows my direction. I am very satisfied with the results... Our music is expression of freedom and a hymn to life.