feature photo: Eckhart Derschmidt
Back in 2020, the French/Japanese quartet Kaze temporarily expanded to a quintet with the addition of laptop specialist Ikue Mori to the acoustic foursome of Satoko Fujii (piano), Peter Orins (drums) and trumpet players Natsuki Tamura and Christian Pruvost. Mori meshed so well for their collaboration Sand Storm (2020) that “temporary” tag can now be removed.
Crustal Movement (Libra Records) is a continuation of the quartet plus one but not a continuation of Sand Storm. This is due to the pandemic-induced isolation that limited a band where everyone contributes at least one composition. As was became a more common occurrence with collaborations over the last three years, audio files were exchanged over the internet, each member adding to the recording of a piece until it reaches a complete ensemble performance. But here’s a twist: only Mori, Fujii and Tamura followed this template. They sent the audio files with their contributions to their French counterparts, who performed over the recorded pieces on a concert stage in France, completing these recordings in front of a live audience.
Even knowing the process, it’s nearly inconceivable to imagine how they were able to put it together as they did. During “Masoandro Mitsoka,” you’d swear Orins and a percussion-minded Fujii are reacting to each other in real time. Then as well, Tamura and Pruvost engage in their lively sparring just as they’ve always have, making great use of false notes to add greatly to the percussive element of the song. Mori and Fujii also cross back and forth the line between tonal and non-tonal as Kaze members never stay in sharply defined roles, a distinguishing characteristic of the band.
The electronic swirls of Mori’s “Shifting Blocks” soon give way to the exotic sounds coming out of acoustic instruments, most notably, the wind storm of notes and semi notes from the horns of Tamura and Pruvost and the perceptive and selective way Orins reacts to what is going on around him. Once again, it’s made even more amazing by understanding how this came together.
Tamura’s “Rolle Cake” is marked by his trademark wit and sly turns, but also melodic development. The highlight comes near the middle, when the composer and Pruvost take center stage on a tête-à-tête, one trumpet seemingly closely on the heels of the other. The other three increasingly intrude on their convo, eventually sharing the focus. “No Twist” gradually rises from the murkiness, gathering momentum as the two Frenchmen absorb the recording and work themselves into it.
Orins chases Fujii’s intrepid piano over “Crustal Movement,” giving way sequentially to Mori’s laptop and then the dynamic duo of trumpets. Melody seeps in from Fujii as drums and squiggly sounds roil about. Tamura and Pruvost return with a vengeance to bring the song to a dramatic conclusion.
Seven albums in, the Kaze concept shows no sign of going stale. Every time out they freshen that concept in ingenious ways and Crustal Movement with Ikue Mori returning is their most audacious undertaking yet.
Crustal Movement will go on sale March 17, 2023.
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