I caught the Vulcan quartet in San Diego recently and thought they were a
blast. Very fun -- but not the pinnacle of Fujii's and Tamura's playing.
Part of the problem had to do with the mix in the smallish gallery room
(about 50 people big). Yoshida and Hayakawa were very loud, and Fujii and
Tamura were over shadowed in the mix (despite mics). Perhaps in response,
Tamura played more straight than usual (a relative description, to be
sure), since a lot of his unusual mannerisms would not be heard. Fujii
tried meeting the volume challenge and was pounding away -- but her best
moments were when she was trading off with Yoshida (or perhaps those were
the only ones I could hear well).
I agree that her big band (especially JO) and dresser-black trio
(especially Toward, To West) bring out her profound depth better than
Vulcan, which seems to be more about extroverted fun. To these favorites, I
would quickly add the new duets "Clouds" (the trumpeter husbandTamura's
name comes first on the cover). Elsewhere, Tamura can sound like he
searching along the precipice for his uniqueness. On this Cd, he seems to
have found it fully and is speaking directly in this musical language he
has invented ... and Fujii is right there. The instincts and interplay are
wonderful, if frequently forlorn.
Martin
np. Ustad Sultan Khan, "Sarangi"
