Akira Sakata, Rie Nakajima

*200 copies limited edition* Akira Sakata is a treasure of Japan’s free jazz/improvised music world. Rie Nakajima is a London-based sound artist with an international career in Europe and beyond. Sakata and Nakajima have performed together in Japan and other countries since the mid-2010s. When Nakajima came to Japan for a time in 2023, the two appeared at Ftarri, Tokyo, on December 4, performing two duo sets. Sakata, on alto sax and clarinet, forgoes ferocious sound-making and plays with calm elegance throughout, occasionally interrupting his performance on winds and producing reverberations with a bell or a singing bowl. (On track 2, he also included the restrained and masterful speaking for which he is known.) Nakajima created a variety of sounds from many small objects placed on the floor and hung from stands. She also produced sound by playing a self-made wind instrument. This CD documents both sets of the nearly-80-minute concert in their entirety.