I reviewed a record of Thomas Morgan’s recently called Io Pur Respiro that I very much enjoyed. Probably actually more than this. But Windflower is better than pianist Ayumi Tanaka’s earlier release from 2021, a recording called Subaqueous Silence more to the point.
Tanaka made a firm impression on the fine Thomas Strønen Lockdown era album Bayou which I think is still her best showing on record.
On Subaqueus Silence she was with a different bassist and drummer. But Strønen – best known to British audiences perhaps for his work with saxophonist Iain Ballamy in Food – appears on this latest and clearly there is a lot of rapport between the two. His open colouristic sound suits her free roaming modernistic urges well.
Tanaka shares something in common stylistically with the sparse and weighty avant-garde traditions of a Masabumi Kikuchi-like world compellingly entered into and isn’t afraid to manipulate silence for effect.
Morgan as on his album with the Austrian Stemeseder referred to above is a fascinating player capable of operating completely adrift from an obvious pulsar framework without becoming marooned in some sort of dull morass.
Windflower isn’t dull. But equally won’t get the party started. It isn’t built much for jazz supper clubs that require more of a groove and entertaining vibe. The acres of sonic spaciousness require patience but experiencing these is worth it if in the right frame of mind when you can be cast away on to its desert island of solemnity and lose yourself in its sealed in oxygen. There is a lot of improvisation here in the spontaneous performance sense which is in its great favour but that is surprising given how controlled and often unspontaneous sounding the album somehow seems. The album was recorded at La Buissonne studio in France last year. It is best suited for late night solitary home listening or long uncertain road trips into the darkness when deep thinking and a distraction from the harshness of the night are required.
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