Nomad
Artist: Gato Libre
Label: No Man’s Land Records
Length: 10 tracks / 67 minutes 
  
The concept of this European-minded jazz quartet’s collection was to name each track after a place and time. It begins “In Krakow, in November,” where composer and bandleader Natsuki Tamura sets up a somewhat staccato twelve-bar riff on his trumpet to set off a cycle of gentler solos for the best part of ten minutes. By contrast, “In Glasgow, in May” is much shorter and punchier, with a couple of free-form minutes in the middle (representing a Scottish bar fight?!). Once these ends of the spectrum have been set, everything else sits in between for most of this very approachable – if sometimes melancholy – disc.
 
The band also includes bass (Norikatsu Koreyasu), acoustic guitar (Kazuhiko Tsumura) and accordion (by Tamura’s wife Satoko Fujii, who is a prolific musician and often usually plays piano); there are strangely no drums, which creates a more relaxed experience, and no extra instruments. These distinct timbres make for good variety in the solos and blend together well, the accordion taking the keyboard role. It does not really matter that the accordion in “In Krakow, in November” is reminiscent of Paris, and that the trumpet and flamenco-esque guitar of “In Lausanne, in January” suggest Barcelona. Like paintings, these are impressions to be enjoyed as someone else’s snapshots. It is probably inevitable that these stereotypes arise. It would be odd if “In Madrid, in August” did not have a rampant, bright-hued bull-fighting feel to it.
 
I find it hard to imagine the Japanese fitting any of the traditional jazz player images, and this is more reserved and less impassioned than American work from the genre. The shapes are more clearly defined – the structures, the time for solos, the bass riffs, but within this setting Tamura often still lets his solos flow beautifully (e.g. “Berlin”);  and “Ghent” is a lovely piece. 
 
There are downsides. Although it finds a real variety of moods, this collection may be a tad overlong for just four instruments. The bass also seems to be on the edge of its pitching when played with a bow. But overall, this is an enjoyable tour of European soundscapes, easily accessible to those with just a passing interest in jazz.
 
(There is a representative three-minute introduction at http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/8186. Also, via freejazz-stef.blogspot.com, I have come across a purely piano-and-trumpet version by Tamura and Fujii of “In Krakov, In November,” which is even better for its instrumental limitations, the presence of piano and its more fluid, sensitive playing style).
 
Derek Walker