In February 2023 trumpeter/flugelhornist Kris Tiner joined percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani for a series of improvisations in the Woolworth Building in Bakersfield, California. The two played on the top floor, a cavernous, long, empty space whose concrete surfaces provided a deeply resonant environment in which to play. The music is deeply introspective, even in its louder moments, and is simply beautiful. The subtle drama of Tiner’s spare and well-paced lines take on sharp definition in the room; they float over and around Nakatani’s nimble counterpoint. Nakatani is a percussionist of extreme inventiveness and musicality; here he draws a vast universe of sounds from trap drums and gongs played both conventionally and unconventionally. The room’s acoustics particularly favor the timbral resources and compass he brings to the duets, emphasizing the extremes of high-pitched, shimmering bowed metal on the one hand and low-frequency rumbling of the bass drum on the other. Tiner and Nakatani prove themselves to be perfectly matched in this set of transportive music.
Daniel Barbiero
Avant Music News 