Natsuki Tamura - Mantle (2021)

On their debut release, Mantle , pianist Satoko Fujii, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, and drummer Ramon Lopez challenged themselves. Working together for the first time as a trio, they not only developed themselves into a working ensemble, but they wrote music that explored the potential of the group, each piece pushing and inspiring them in a different way. The result is an album of unfailing surprise and invention played by a group that listens closely and responds to one another on a deep intuitive level.

The trio recorded at the end of a 9-concert tour of Japan in September 2019. “It was an incredible tour,” Fujii says. “We agreed at the beginning to each write one new composition a day for the group as we toured. So there were three new pieces at each concert and we developed a unique repertoire specifically for the trio. We were busy traveling, performing concerts, and composing on the road. All our compositions drew inspiration from the music we played in concert, from each other’s compositions, and the cities where we played. I didn’t even believe it was possible. But we pushed ourselves and had so much fun making the band sound grow. In the end we had 27 compositions (3 x 9 concerts)!”

The band sound was really a work in progress—they had never worked together as a trio before the tour. Long-time collaborators, Fujii and Tamura have no less than 7 duet albums to their credit. Critic Troy Collins in Cadence says, “Fujii and Tamura’s sublime interaction and loquacious dialogue embodies near telepathic perfection.” Their most recent duet CD, Pentas (NotTwo Records) is out on November 6 alongside Mantle. Fujii and Lopez released the critically acclaimed duet CD, Confluence (Libra), in 2018. In a review of the album in ArtsFuse, writer Michael Ullman said, “Fujii and Lopez are clear-eyed adventurers; this is free jazz that shimmers with inquisitive transparency.” The extra effort they put into the tour paid off by turning them into a boldly experimental, cohesive unit.