Tatsuya Nakatani is one of the best among what might be called “sound drummers,” a class of players who use drum kits more as a collection of resonant chambers than boxes to beat on. Where most, in line with the post-AMM trend, generally go for spare statements, Nakatani is a maximalist; silence is not a part of his system. His music is layered and dramatic, and often fairly enormous. His most effective tools are metal – gongs and bowls, often bowed, that ring long and low.
Primal Communication, a single, 57-minute solo improvisation, would seem to be an important work for Nakatani. His liner notes are a quick autobiography of his experiences moving from Japan to the U.S. and his development and interests as a musician; the packaging includes two painted portraits and one formal photograph. The presentation strongly implies that this isn’t just a session he was happy with but a summation of where he’s come so far. And the music stands up to the projected significance. From the sonic booms of the opening to the cymbals scraped across drumheads, screeching like a violin with distemper, the overall effect suggests a thunderstorm waking up in the morning.
But beyond that, the disc shows Nakatani as an engineer who knows how to present his soundworld. The piece was recorded at his Pennsylvania home with eight microphones onto eight separate tracks, and the sound is expansive, reaching out and then closing in on itself. It takes an assured performer to pull off such a solo performance, and Nakatani more than pulls it off.
-
Kurt Gottschalk 2008-02-07
|
