Yuto Mitomi - Epicycle

Label: Self released, 2025

Personnel - Yuto Mitomi: tenor and soprano saxophone; Takahiro Izumikawa: piano, keyboards; Moto Fukushima: six-string bass; Keita Ogawa: drums, percussion.

New York-based Japanese saxophonist and composer Yuto Mitomi presents Epicycle, his fourth album as a leader/co-leader. Joined by a proficient quartet, Mitomi and his peers move organically, maintaining a constant focus on shaping a style that is both crystalline and opaque. The title Epicycle refers to a geometric concept applied to astronomy, mirroring the album’s intricate musical explorations.

Ambiguity plays a strong role throughout the album, which opens with “Morning Haze”, a free improvisation unfolding as a fluid, shapeless dialogue. Mitomi’s profound saxophone meditations intertwine with Keita Ogawa’s steady cymbal splashes, Takahiro Izumikawa’s diligent piano phrasing, and Moto Fukushima’s ruminative electric bass. These striking avant-garde landscapes resurface in two other free improvisations—“Grappling Cats” and “Moony Night”. The former highlights the ensemble’s adventurous spirit and exploratory nature, while the latter is graced by a cool beat and lavishly jazzy piano harmonies.

Ogawa’s splendid drumming propels “Spline”, a title referencing mathematical curves and mirroring the piece’s fluid, undulating movement. Infused with an acid jazz flavor, the track thrives on fusion-leaning keyboard attacks, over which Mitomi’s soaring soprano lines take flight. Even the composed pieces exude an open quality— “Dew”, for instance, bathes the listener in soft, prismatic colors and a cohesive texture, carried by a relaxed 7/4 groove. Assertive solos from Izumikawa and Mitomi gradually build in emotion, framed by a serene yet compelling rhythmic foundation.

The four instruments overlap picturesquely on “Epicycle”, a composition divided into two distinct yet persuasive parts—the first, poetic and restraint; the second, groovier yet amiable in tone, invigorated by a few rhythmic variations. Various genres inform Mitomi’s predominantly jazz idiom, and Epicycle is an empathetic, curiously textured album where listeners may appreciate the quartet’s genuine musical sensibilities.

Favorite Tracks:
04 - Epicycle II ► 05 - Grappling Cats ► 07 - Spline

Tim Berne - Yikes Too

Label: Screwgun Records / Out of Your Head Records

Personnel - Tim Berne: alto saxophone; Greg Belisle-Chi: guitar; Tom Rainey: drums.

The influential saxophonist Tim Berne leads a new explorative trio called Capotosta, taking listeners on a sonic journey filled with hidden treasures. Berne enjoys the inventive support of two other creative visionaries: guitarist Greg Belisle-Chi, a recent yet highly compatible collaborator, and drummer Tom Rainey, a longtime associate who played an important role in Berne’s acclaimed avant-jazz trios Big Satan and Hardcell.

Yikes Too is a double album with two distinct parts. The first disc features ten studio tracks recorded at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, while the second captures a live concert performance in Seattle. The album’s mixing and mastering are handled by guitarist and producer David Torn, Berne’s collaborator in the Sun of Goldfinger and Sunny Five projects.

The trio’s telepathy and responsive cohesion has been honed through weekly gigs at Brooklyn’s Lowlands. This synergy is evident from the opening track, “Oddly Enough”, which showcases their like-mindedness, Berne’s creative genius, and Rainey’s vibrant drumming that balances angular unisons. The shifting rhythmic patterns create space for Belisle-Chi’s abstract guitar explorations, which Berne joins with soaring alto sax lines over contorted noise guitar textures and charged drum activity.

In a nearly 10-minute odyssey “Guitar Star”, Belisle-Chi’s distorted introduction evokes dark shadows, oscillating between eerie Celtic underworld sounds and radiant bursts of light piercing through opaque textures. “Yikes” blends alternative rock with avant-garde jazz as Berne delivers expressive melodies brimming with twists and tangles.

Rainey’s drumset mastery shines on “Yikes 2”, flanked by robust, deliberately imperfect sax-guitar unisons, and “Julius Hemphill”, a reflective tribute to Berne’s mentor and hero. Operating on the same wavelength, the musicians offer beautiful, emotionally stricken moments, and the piece evolves into a foreign dance propelled by intricate rhythmic patterns.

“Bat Channel” offers a compelling framework of engrossing chordal accompaniment, eloquent sax lines, and comfortable chatting drums. “Trauma”, on the other hand, feels chantingly motivic with its cohesive ideas and nonconformist pulse, driven by an articulate 12-beat cycle riff that makes us feel the ground under our feet. The first disc closes with “Sorry Variations”, a sometimes-free, sometimes-mathematical excursion of spontaneous linguistic expression that embodies the album’s overarching mood.

Berne continues to carve out a unique niche as both a visionary artist and fierce improviser. His collaborators also deserve significant credit for the album's dynamic success.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Oddly Enough ► 03 - Yikes ► 06 - Julius Hemphill ► 08 - Trauma

John Zorn / Bill Laswell - Memoria

Label: Tzadik, 2023

Personnel - John Zorn: alto saxophone; Bill Laswell: electric bass.

Saxophonist John Zorn and bassist Bill Laswell, stalwart figures of the New York’s downtown scene, have been close collaborators since the mid-‘70s. In their recent duo effort, Memoria, they pay homage to three late visionaries of jazz and improvised music. Working together in the spirit of trust, they transcend in their tantrums, creating an intense and evocative journey that explores new musical territory. The results are no less than telepathic.

In “Pharaoh Sanders”, Laswell's washing bass chords limned with synth effects provide a backdrop for an explosive saxophone performance. Zorn explores in feral fury with piercing squeaks, contrasting with Laswell's long, reflective notes. The saxophone pitch is manic, creating an astonishing density. The circular, spectral, and enigmatic bass texture transforms into atmospheric harmonics, pedals, and vamps, inviting Zorn to deliver intricate coils and rebellious shouts that challenge comfort zones. 

“Milford Graves” features Zorn working on circular breathing techniques with fast notes over Laswell’s expert ambient treatment. The deep foundational underpinning of the bass brings uncanny feelings, encouraging Zorn to explore inventive phrases, patterned imprints, and circular arches. The result is an atmospheric ride suffused with restless tones.

In “Wayne Shorter”, there’s a mindfulness to melody, and the saxophone lines rest atop an effect-drenched, spaced-out haze that never loses its dark edges and exoteric spirituality. The propulsive, rippling fluxes of the bass invite fabulous interplay as Zorn blows his horn with authoritative power. This duo, with nothing to prove, does great things within experimental free jazz and structured improvisation.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Milford Graves ► 03 - Wayne Shorter