Biography
Natsuki Tamura stands among the leading figures in creative improvised trumpet, generating a steady stream of distinctive projects marked by originality and wide-ranging expression. Born July 26, 1951, in Otsu, Shiga, Japan, he first picked up the instrument while playing in his junior high school brass band. After finishing high school he worked professionally across numerous ensembles, among them the World Sharps Orchestra, Consolation, the Skyliners Orchestra, the New Herd Orchestra, the Music Magic Orchestra, and the bands led by pianist Satoko Fujii, who later became his wife. Between 1973 and 1982 he also appeared on several prominent Japanese television programs, including The Best Ten, Music Fair, and Kirameku Rhythm.
In 1986 Tamura relocated to the United States to enroll at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. He later returned to Japan, where he taught at the Yamaha Popular Music School and maintained private trumpet studios in Tokyo and Saitama, before traveling once more to Boston for additional study at the New England Conservatory of Music. From 1990 onward he has assembled an extensive series of ensembles whose number and variety are matched only by Fujii herself; these have included the quartet Tobifudo, unaccompanied trumpet performances and recordings such as the Leo label release A Song for Jyaki, numerous duo and ensemble collaborations with Fujii, the trio completed by drummers Jim Black and Aaron Alexander that produced the 2000 album White & Blue, and sessions issued on the Buzz, Libra, and NatSat labels. He appears on every recording by Fujii’s progressive big bands in New York City, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kobe, supplying original compositions and arrangements for each of those collective efforts.
Critics have likened his approach to that of Hugh Ragin, Roy Campbell, Wadada Leo Smith, Toshinori Kondo, Don Cherry, and Lester Bowie. His principal outside endeavor is Gato Libre, an acoustic quartet in which Fujii plays accordion alongside guitarist Tsumura Kazuhiko and bassist Koreyasu Norikatsu. As a sideman he has worked with Satoh Masahiko, Orkestra Rova, Larry Ochs, the Juggernaut Jug Band, Misha Mengelberg, Angelo Verploegen, Chris Brown, Jimmy Weinstein, Elliott Sharp, Paul Bley, Takayuki Kato, Takaaki Masuko, Ryojiro Furusawa, and the group Junk Box.
In 1986 Tamura relocated to the United States to enroll at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. He later returned to Japan, where he taught at the Yamaha Popular Music School and maintained private trumpet studios in Tokyo and Saitama, before traveling once more to Boston for additional study at the New England Conservatory of Music. From 1990 onward he has assembled an extensive series of ensembles whose number and variety are matched only by Fujii herself; these have included the quartet Tobifudo, unaccompanied trumpet performances and recordings such as the Leo label release A Song for Jyaki, numerous duo and ensemble collaborations with Fujii, the trio completed by drummers Jim Black and Aaron Alexander that produced the 2000 album White & Blue, and sessions issued on the Buzz, Libra, and NatSat labels. He appears on every recording by Fujii’s progressive big bands in New York City, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kobe, supplying original compositions and arrangements for each of those collective efforts.
Critics have likened his approach to that of Hugh Ragin, Roy Campbell, Wadada Leo Smith, Toshinori Kondo, Don Cherry, and Lester Bowie. His principal outside endeavor is Gato Libre, an acoustic quartet in which Fujii plays accordion alongside guitarist Tsumura Kazuhiko and bassist Koreyasu Norikatsu. As a sideman he has worked with Satoh Masahiko, Orkestra Rova, Larry Ochs, the Juggernaut Jug Band, Misha Mengelberg, Angelo Verploegen, Chris Brown, Jimmy Weinstein, Elliott Sharp, Paul Bley, Takayuki Kato, Takaaki Masuko, Ryojiro Furusawa, and the group Junk Box.
Albums
