Credits:

Ayumi Tanaka

Description:

Ayumi Tanaka, an up-and-coming pianist active in Scandinavia, is the first ECM leader to release a piano trio album that offers "the most beautiful sound next to silence," making her the third Japanese pianist to release a jazz leader album on ECM, following Masaaki Kikuchi and Shinya Fukumori. In 2011, Tanaka moved to Oslo to study jazz and improvised music at the Norwegian National Conservatory of Music under the late Misha Alperin, and in 2013, he met young bassist Christian Meos Svendsen and drummer Per Odvar Johansen, who has won six Norwegian Grammy Awards. The trio formed and debuted in 2016 with the album "Memento". In the same year, the trio toured Japan, and this is their second album in the five years since. Following on from the previous album, this work is a continuation of their efforts to create a unique piano trio sound, using the instrumentation of a traditional jazz piano trio, but viewing it as a chamber music ensemble. An awareness of "silence and the power of a single note" is one of the things that Tanaka values in his musical expression.Just as traditional Japanese music has been closely connected to nature, Tanaka hopes to create music that can harmonize with the sounds found in nature. This work was recorded in 2019 at the jazz club Victoria in Oslo. Four of the seven songs are original compositions written by Tanaka in 2017, but the songs were perfected as the trio performed them over the two years before this album was recorded. In addition, three improvisations are included. The songs on the album were conceived for the members, and were created with the intention of giving each a margin of free interpretation, while at the same time strongly indicating the direction in which the music should head. When actually performing the songs, the band members focus on each other's sound at each moment, while emphasizing the importance of creating a single piece of music together.

Tracklisting:

1.Ruins
2.Black Rain
3.Ruins II
4.Ichi
5.Zephyr
6.Towards the Sea
7.Subaqueous Silence