Jazz Police - Experimental Percussion With Tatsuya Nakatani in Minneapolis, January 20-21

"Orchestral brilliance, Tatsuya Nakatani is a methodical musician concerned with the development of an idea in time. His beginnings are arresting; his endings are satisfying.
The right duration and variety of events are fully charged with a visceral intensity that can captivate a true listener..... The music is clear...It will purify any space. " ---Eric Zinman, Improvisor Magazine

Twin Cities’ fans of avant garde percussion, as well as anyone interested in experimental music, have an exciting opportunity to hear and watch modern percussion master Tatsuya Nakatani twice this coming week, in the company of local sound explorers Milo Fine on January 20th at the Art of This Gallery in south Minneapolis, and Chris Bates and Adam Linz in the intimate, all acoustic space of the Rogue Buddha Gallery in Northeast Minneapolis on January 21st. On solo tour of the U.S. this winter, Naktani brings along a unique menagerie of sound devices, including some invented instruments as well as drumset, bowed gongs, cymbals, singing bowls, bells, metal objects and a variety of sticks and bowls. His organic creations infuse jazz, rock and noise with the space and beauty of traditional Japanese folk music.

Chris Bates©Andrea Canter

Originally from Osaka, Japan, Nakatani has released nearly 50 recordings in the past decade, tours internationally and collaborates with artists throughout the world. In addition to his career as solo and ensemble performer, Nakatani is a sound designer for film and television, a teacher of master classes and head of H & H Production, an independent record label and studio in Easton, PA. He improvised a music score for the Smithsonian in conjunction with the Hiroshi Sugimoto exhibition; performed at the Kennedy Center and the Chicago Cultural Center.

Listening to tracks from his solo percussion CD Primal Communication, one is struck by a wild array of scrapes, screeches, groans, scratches, thuds, creaks, whines....sounds and rhythms that emulate horns, strings, human voices, inhuman soundscapes. How are the sounds produced? Nakatani’s creations demand visual access—he must be appreciated live.

On January 20th, Nakatani performs solo and with multi-instrumentalist/inventor/free jazz leader Milo Fine, himself the creator of percussion arsenals as well as an innovator on marimba, B-flat clarinet and piano. Leader of the acclaimed Milo Fine Free Jazz Ensemble, Fine has kept the free jazz flame burning brightly in the Twin Cities through multiple performance series at such venues as Homewood Studios and the West Bank School of Music.

On January 21st at Rogue Buddha, Nakatani is joined by the double-bass duo of Chris Bates and Adam Linz. No strangers to improvised music, Bates and Linz have been leading the experimental charge among local musicians, through solo work and their various ensembles—Bates with Kelly Rossum’s Quartet, with How Birds Work, the Atlantis Quartet, Framework and more; Linz particularly with Fat Kid Wednesdays and a variety of collaborations with European musicians who have participated in the Minnesota Sur Seine Festival and beyond. Both are often found on the bandstand at Café Maude and Clown Lounge, venues well known for presenting experimental works. Rogue Buddha is a small gallery space in northeast Minneapolis that presents experimental jazz/new music at least monthly. No amplification will be involved in this performance on January 21st. What you hear will be unadulterated, untethered, unclassifiable sound, created in the moment through inner explorations and external collaboration.

Art of This Gallery is located at 3506 Nicollet Av South in Minneapolis; Tatsuya Nakatqni and Milo Fine perform at 7:30 pm on January 20th. Rogue Buddha is located at 357 13th Av NE in Minneapolis. Nakatani, Bates and Linz perform at 8 pm. Additional information on Tatsuya Nakatani can be found at www.hhproduction.org