Tomas Fujiwara and Taylor Ho Bynum - Stepwise

Tomas Fujiwara, Taylor Ho Bynum
Stepwise

Label: NotTwo, 2010
Catalogue No: MW 828-2
Format: CD

Tracks:

1. 3D (1:07)
2. Keys No Address (4:28)
3. Stepwise (6:44)
4. Two Abbeys (0:41)
5. Comfort (5:12)
6. Weather Conditions May Vary (2:21)
7. Iris (3:47)
8. Splits (10:08)
9. Detritus (1:54)
10. B.C. (6:40)

Line-up:

Taylor Ho Bynum - cornet
Tomas Fujiwara - drums

Recorded:

Recorded May 11, 2009. Engineered and mixed by Jeremy Wilms, ITS The Sound Studio, Brooklyn, NY

Reviews:

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. (freejazz-stef.blogspot)

*****

Taylor Ho Bynum is one of the most inventive and exciting trumpeters of his generation. Well known for his association with such seminal figures as Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor and Bill Dixon, he is also building a substantial body of work in his own right. Stepwise is his second duet with drummer and longtime ally Tomas Fujiwara, after True Events (482 Music, 2007), which made several best of year lists.

This time out there four compositions, two from the, that are placed together with six jointly improvised cuts in a 43-minute studio date. Both men resist the temptation to overplay inherent in a duo session, and their interplay is spare and focused. Fujiwara has absorbed some of the influence of master percussionist Ed Blackwell in his melodic approach to the drums. Nowhere is this more apparent than on his own pleasingly simple "Keys No Address," where he also demarcates the tune alongside Bynum's puckish cornet, as well as soloing thematically when his turn comes. Bynum is a virtuoso, effortlessly incorporating extended technique into musical discourse. On the title track he inexorably builds tension with a judicious combination of high squeals and muted wah-wah growls, before effectively partaking of a call and response with himself in the opposing registers of his horn. Later on the introduction to his "Iris" he casually deploys a perky vocalized upper register and multiphonic buzz, before a melodic line which oscillates jauntily above Native American drum cadences.

Even with the sparse instrumentation, every piece convinces as complete in itself. "3D" acts as an introductory taster for the fluid dialogue to come: Bynum's careening brass briefly slithering above measured tumbling toms until the fade out. "Comfort" has a lilting melancholic cornet melody cycled over a steady mid tempo rhythm. Bynum's repetitions allow the focus to shift to Fujiwara's subtly varied extemporizations. "Two Abbeys" is another fragment of yelping horn and a loose cowbell pattern, while the longest cut "Splits" matches skittering cornet with tap-laden free drum accents in a more conversational give and take. But even here the sense of purpose, structure and rapport generated by these two young pretenders, becoming old hands, captivates and delights. (John Sharpe, AllAboutJazz)

About:

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.

With "a quiet energy that propels" (All About Jazz) and a style that is "both volatile and watchful" (New York Times), Tomas' "alert drumming has propelled some excellent ensembles on the new-music landscape" (New York Times). His current projects include: Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up, Taylor Ho Bynum / Tomas Fujiwara Duo (True Events, 482 Music, 2007, upcoming release on Nottwo Records), The Thirteenth Assembly ((un)sentimental, Important Records, 2009), Taylor Ho Bynum Trio and Sextet (The Middle Picture, Firehouse 12, 2007, Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths, hatOLOGY, 2008, and Double Trio with the Stephen Haynes Trio, Engine Records, 2009), Matana Roberts' Mississippi Moonchile, Coin Coin, and Quartet (The Calling, Utech, 2006), Ideal Bread (Ideal Bread, KMB Jazz, 2008), The Throes (The Throes, CIMP, 2009), Matt Bauder's Day In Pictures, Positive Catastrophe (Garabatos Volume 1, Cuneiform Records, 2009), Red Baraat, Soo's Collage (Soo's Collage, Audioguy, 2006), Matt Welch's Blarvuster, Exegesis, and Aji No Moto. Tomas has performed at venues and festivals across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East including The Moers Festival, Jazz Em Agosto, Tampere Jazz Happening, Rochester Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Suoni Popolo Festival, Urlichsberg Festival, Taktos Festival, Umbrella Festival, and Vision Festival. He has performed with Anthony Braxton, Arnie Lawrence, Joe Chambers, Norah Jones, Ravi Coltrane, Herbie Mann, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Mike Longo, Jimmy Greene, Joe Morris, Roy Campbell, William Parker, Burnt Sugar, Vernon Reid, Butch Morris, David Murray, Warren Smith, Irene Aebi, Kwaku Kwakye Obeng, Nicole Mitchell, and Vijay Iyer. In 2008, Tomas toured the Middle East as part of the U.S. State Department / Lincoln Center program, The Rhythm Road. From 2000-2005, Tomas was a cast member of both the touring (2000-2003) and New York (2003-2005) companies of the Off Broadway hit STOMP.

***

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.