The remarkable Makagami Koichi opened with a solo like a troubled radio that couldn't hold a station: growling, purring, hiccupping and screeching through a display of vocaliztion that seemed more a Cliff Note of his technique than a coherent piece, eventually settling into a sort of drunken Tuvan chant. His vocabulary is astounding, though, and purely his own (although Acid Mothers' Atsushi Tsuyama might owe him at least a mother-may-I). Koichi's cartoonish fast-cutting makes it easy enough to understand Zorn's attraction. (Zorn has released three Koichi discs on his Tzadik label, and Koichi has organized nights of Zorn's game piece Cobra in Japan).
Zorn orchestrated this evening like one of his Improv Nights, sending various groupings of players to join Koichi for different pieces. With others on stage, Koichi stayed more within individual characters, doing a fretful vocal-and-jaw-harp piece with Ikue Mori, matching well and singing over her electronic percussion, then fighting alongside Zorn's saxophone screams and squeals. In trio with Koichi and Zorn, Mori created a surprising wall of noise, far from her usual sparseness, and encompassed the men in a fortress of noise.
Koichi has often worked in composed, or at least preconceived settings, notably in Kazutoki Umezu's klezmer band and Otomo Yoshihide's Ground Zero (not to mention his own new wave group Hikasu, whose material has been reissued by Tzadik). In a purely improvised setting, however, Koichi shows himself to have a remarkable ear. The more people on stage, the more elements he had to respond to, and he was always responding. He often stayed close to Zorn's alto, but a pianic phrase from Courvoisier or a percussive roll from Baptista could be enough to suggest a needed basso profundo slurp or an Oompa Loompa yelp.
Needless to say, having four of New York's finest as a backing band affords ample opportunity for reaction and interaction. The full quintet was nearly impenetrable. Baptista's acoustic percussion with Mori's laptop and Courvoisier's prepared piano made a milky fog, with Koichi and Zorn at times barely differentiable.
Baptista can be manic at times, switching between drums and rattles too quickly to allow ideas to develop. But part of Koichi's charm, a staple of his gift, is that he can stop and turn on a dime. No sooner could Baptista hit a different block during their duo than Koichi would be on top of it. Easily he's the fastest mouth in the east.
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