Free like the wind

Canberra lucked out this time. Kaze were in Australia for a summer jazz festival in Melbourne and we got this experimental quartet to play for an intimate session at the Ainslie Arts Centre. Kaze are a quartet comprising two Japanese members and two French. Also, no bass, but two trumpets with piano and drums. The second set was more abstract, essentially a personal improvised free solo from drums then trumpet, trumpet and piano before a loud final flourish to sandwich the quiet with volume. They started with charted lines and shared solos from the two trumpets then through various mixes of compositions and free for the first set. I enjoyed the comparison of approaches by the two trumpets, the intrigue of finding sounds on all the instruments, the cymbal screeches and piano mallets and, something I'd not seen, a cord singing a piano string, the various tiny percussions, the continuous breathing (from both trumpeters) and even stranger techniques like the balloon mouthpiece. I like that it wasn't only free. The composed sections were a fitting palette to enhance the free parts. Leader and pianist Satoko said they prefer the free improv and the second set was essentially that. This was intimate and as serious as your life, to borrow a jazz quote, and a friendly event where you could talk to the musos. Some really capable free within a larger structure. Nice. And BTW, we were told that Kaze means wind.

Kaze is a Japanese/French collaboration comprising Satoko Fujii (piano), Natsuki Tamura (trumpet), Christian Pruvost (trumpet) and Peter Orins (drums).