With his Gato Libre quartet, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura has succeeded in establishing a unique (and charming) group sound that still allows enough play room to avoid repetition. The Nomad album was slightly different than Strange Village, and the group's third opus, Kuro, also has its own character. That being said, the essential Gato Libre components are still here: the slow, naïve, pastoral compositions -- ballads for butoh dancers, it seems -- and the world music element (influences from Arabia and Spain this time around). The instrumentation also remains the same: Tamura's understated trumpet lines, the single-note accordion accompaniment provided by Satoko Fujii, the delicate classical guitar of Kazuhiko Tsumura, and the fluent double bass of Norikatsu Koreyasu. So where's the new? In the attitude. Most of the album sticks to the dreamy yet highly choreographed style of tunes featured on the two previous albums (Sunny Spot and Kuro are highlights in that vein), but the performers are allowed more room to shine (Patrol, for instance), and a couple of tracks push the quartet in other directions. Battle clearly depicts a struggle, turning into something wilder and more eventful than anything previously recorded by Gato Libre. Similarly, Beyond offers a rare moment of free improvisation: without one of Tamura's minute musical maps, the group weaves out some very strong atonal interplay that, besides breaking the relative monochromaticism of the album, bestows even greater beauty to the next piece, the concluding Kuro. This third album is proof that Gato Libre are not just a passing fancy for Tamura or his zen vehicle to escape the hustle and bustle of the modern jazz world, but a viable artistic proposition rooted in simplicity and beauty. ~ François Couture, Rovi

1		Sunny Spot
2		Patrol
3		Battle
4		Reconcile
5		Together
6		Beyond
7		Kuro

	Like us on Facebook
	@SoundHound	Follow