Tetuzi Akiyama, Tim Barnes, Masafumi Ezaki

In early 2003, AKIYAMA (guitar) and BARNES (percussion(s) began a tour that took them from Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo in Japan, to New York, North Hampton, and Boston. Along the way, they picked up many friends (Ami Yoshida, Matt Valentine, Sean Meehan, Toshimaru Nakamura) to perform with them as trios. One night in particular, a below freezing evening in Osaka, AKIYAMA and BARNES were joined by one of the most exciting trumpet players to emerge from Japan in the last 20 years -- Masafumi EZAKI. Protected from the frigid world outside, AKIYAMA, BARNES and EZAKI found themselves surrounded by an amazing collection of Art Deco furniture and Op-Art wall hangings which filled the petite Café Futuro. The trio packed themselves into the smallest corner, and began to respond to all the sensations and elements surrounding them. This completely acoustic musical situation gather its sounds into sparse vertical patterns that continually collapse back into it self. The players seem to travel beyond their own instrument. You rarely hear them play any conventional gestures or tones, as if they were using these instruments to channel some other musical mission.