another beautiful piece of music making that spells out clearly the remarkable empathy of the trio
ECM 2859 / 574 4313
Ayumi Tanaka (piano); Thomas Morgan (double bass); Thomas Strønen (drums)
Recorded May 2025
Resident in Oslo, Japanese pianist Ayumi Tanaka has in recent years made her presence felt in a most compelling manner, seemingly finding a home with ECM and a decade long association with drummer Thomas Strønen having played in the drummer’s group Time Is A Blind Guide and in the Bayou trio with reeds player and vocalist Martha Lea.
With this, her second album for the label as leader, Tanaka draws inspiration from the fragility of the windflower or anemone and does so by presenting an all-new trio featuring US bassist Thomas Morgan. The startling interplay and empathy of the trio is apparent from the outset and is such that the pianist chose to record a set of improvisations that sound as if composed, and of the nine selections only ‘La Source’ is the only pre-composed piece on the album, which fittingly also sounds as it was improvised. A beautiful composition that drifts melodically and purposefully with Morgan’s sure-footed and supple bass lines in dialogue with Tanaka.
With an approach that incorporates both jazz and chamber music, the trio remains true to the theme of the windflower and its fragility throughout but does so using broad brush strokes that allow for a surprisingly wide range of dynamic variation. The opening title track for example is driven by Strønen’s drums and the double bass of Thomas Morgan in a thrilling push and pull dialogue with the piano providing the commentary, and idea that is also used to provide the drama on ‘From Us, To You’ that underpins a more probing conversation between piano and bass.
The trio display their playful side with gently swirling piano motifs over Strønen’s wonderful brushwork on ‘The Sea Is Still’, but it is the quieter and contemplative improvisations that reveal most about the three musicians where the spontaneous melodies and interplay unfurl at a gentle pace with space and silence also an important ingredient in the mix.
‘Weaving’ and ‘Tree of Stars’ make a strong case for the above, as does the lyrical and exquisite performance of that is ‘Spring’. Tanaka has a light and delicate touch at the keyboard that is immensely evocative. Ideas flow effortlessly from her fingers at once fully formed yet spontaneous in conception. Just listen carefully to ‘Driftwood’, another beautiful piece of music making that spells out clearly the remarkable empathy of the trio, once again making it difficult to comprehend how this music can be anything other than pre-composed; which of course it isn’t.
