Dream Up
Out Of Your Head, 2025
9/10
This first release from the iconoclastic artist Tomas Fujiwara’s percussion quartet brings Patricia Brennan, Tim Keiper, and Kaoru Watanabe to 9 really creative tracks.
The title track opens with Brennan’s cozy vibraphone before Fujiwara’s cautious drums enter the unpredictable tinkering, and “Mobilize” follows with thumping drums and flowing mallet fun that suits the many other playful noisemakers.
In the middle the oddly rhythmic “Recollection Of A Dance” is equal parts dreamy and quirky, while “Ritual Pace” does come with a tribal-esque demeanor that’s mesmerizing in its firm gestures.
“Tapestry” and “You Don’t Have To Try” exit the listen. The former is a calmer bout that eventually builds into dense ideas and busy interaction, and the latter leads with a gentle haze before settling into cautious, intimate areas.
Keiper’s handling of donso ngoni, kamale ngoni, calabash, temple blocks, timbale, djembe, castanets, balafon, found objects, and other percussion, plus Watanabe’s contributions on o-jimedaiko, uchiwadaiko, shimedaiko, and shinobue can’t not be mentioned, as the quartet turn in a really imaginative effort in the area of percussive jazz.
Travels well with: Webber/Morris Big Band- Unseparate; The Hemphill Stringtet- Plays The Music Of Julius Hemphill