Unwritten
Circum/Libra, 2024
9/10
The first entirely improvised effort from the international ensemble Kaze, the 3 in depth tracks here emit Christian Pruvost, Natsuki Tamura, Sakoto Fujii and Peter Orins’ talents in unpredictable and fascinating ways.
“Thirteen” begins the listen with strong attention to mood, where Orins’ proficient drumming and hazy trumpet from Pruvost and Tamura mesh with Fujii’s finger acrobatics on piano. The piece unfolds across 35+ minutes, and gets quite busy, but can also retreat to ebbs of soft grace.
“We Waited” arrives in the middle, and leads with a gripping ambience, before the firm piano and dense drums enter amid the unorthodox, rhythmic exploration.
“Evolving” closes out the listen, and recruits ‘found object’ like percussive nods, where minimalistic gesturing emits a curious, engaging finish.
As to be expected from a line up with this much talent, every moment here is purposely abstract, rumbling with avant-rock bursts or simmering in timeless jazz spells that we could never tire of.
Travels well with: Ches Smith- Laugh Ash; Richard Nelson- Dissolve