Fujiwara, Tomas and Taylor Ho Bynum

Stepwise

Label: Not Two Records Country: Poland

"The dialogue of a duet has a special and distinct musical quality that is not comparable to the introspective vulnerability of a solo performance, but does not quite reach the level of a band, a notion that starts with a trio, and which leads to a "group" creation of music. Duets are about dialogue, about intimacy and interaction, bouncing off ideas, contradicting and agreeing, like two good friends. And that's what these two musicians do, as a sequel to their previous album, "True Events". Taylor Ho Bynum plays cornet, Tomas Fujiwara drums. On ten tracks, varying between less than one minute to a little over ten, they sing, they swing, they shout, they murmur, they growl, they scream, they dance, they joke, they weep : they break boundaries and the remain cosy and comfortably within the tradition.

Some of the pieces, such as "Keys No Address", or "B.C." are clearly composed, others, like "Iris" and the long "Splits" are free improvisations that could evolve in any direction. And that's the great part of this album : you hear it all: the history of jazz in a nutshell (Gillespie/Roach, Don Cherry/Ed Blackwell to Dixon and beyond), technically broad, creative and inventive, and with loads of passion."-FreeJazzStef

"Tomas Fujiwara was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of seven, he fell in love with music while listening to the classic drum battle record, Rich vs. Roach. After two years of studies with Joyce Kauffman, Tomas began an eight-year course of study with legendary drummer and educator, Alan Dawson. He has worked as a leader of and composer for various ensembles, as a sideman, as a composer for theatre, film, and dance, and as a teacher and clinician.

Taylor Ho Bynum is a performer on cornet and various brass instruments, composer, bandleader, and interdisciplinary collaborator with artists in dance, film, and theater. Bynum is committed to the further exploration of the extensions of composition and improvisation pioneered by 20th century masters like Ellington, Ives, and the AACM, but with a third millennial flavor and a trickster sensibility. He presently leads his Trio, his Sextet, the chamber ensemble SpiderMonkey Strings, and the little big band Positive Catastrophe, and has developed a body of solo music for cornet and duo work with dancer/choreographer Rachel Bernsen. In addition to leading his own groups, Bynum regularly performs with some of the most innovative figures in creative music, such as Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, and Bill Dixon, and has ongoing collaborations with such artists as Bill Lowe, Jason Kao Hwang, and Joe Morris. His work with Anthony Braxton spans over ten years and ranges from duo to orchestra, with recent tours throughout Europe and North America and over a dozen recordings; their collaborative CD Duets (Wesleyan) 2002 received wide critical acclaim. Other recent recordings as a leader include Other Stories (Three Suites) with SpiderMonkey Strings, True Events with drummer Tomas Fujiwara, and two albums with his Sextet and Trio: The Middle Picture and Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths."-Not Two