NAKAMURA, SEIICHI

Not all jazz reinventions announce themselves with a bang: this recording found Seiichi Nakamura moving away from the volcanic eruptions of his earlier work toward something loose and less forced. The music is inspired by Kazumasa Hirai's Wolf Guy universe and is rich in motion and openness. The saxophone is circulating through gaps and letting silence do as much work as sound. 'Wolf's Theme' and 'Harappa' feel less like compositions than environments being entered and exited. Even the standards like 'Body & Soul' are treated with restraint. Contributions from Toshiyuki Daitoku, Aki Takase, and Ryojiro Furusawa add to the widescreen sound and the essentialness of this reissue.